


Home away from home

by SammyHerondale



Category: Naruto
Genre: Adventure, Anbu Uzumaki Naruto, Character Death, Cliffhangers, Drama, Eventual Romance, F/M, Female Uzumaki Naruto, Fluff and Humor, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Fuuinjutsu Master Uzumaki Naruto, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Light Angst, Third Shinobi War, Time Skips, Time Travel, mentions of child rape
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-23
Updated: 2018-12-06
Packaged: 2019-01-04 11:34:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 37
Words: 114,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12168054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SammyHerondale/pseuds/SammyHerondale
Summary: Naruto was 21 when she was sent to the past to a time she had not lived. She was sent to the era of when Kakashi was still a chunin and was given a chance to right the wrongs of those who came before her. How she would do that would come along the way so for now, she'd try her best from the shadows she could enter.





	1. Info

Peace

| 

Peace

| 

Peace

| 

Peace

| 

Peace

| 

Peace

| 

Peace

| 

Peace

| 

Peace

| 

2nd war  
  
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---  
  
Shibi

| 

Inoichi

Shikaku

Choza

| 

Yoshino

| 

Minato

Kushina

 

| 

Tsume

| 

Yashamaru

| 

 

| 

Sasori

| 

Raido

 

| 

Nagato

Konan

   
  
2nd war

| 

2nd war

| 

2nd war

| 

2nd war

| 

2nd war

| 

2nd war

| 

2nd war

| 

Peace

| 

Peace

| 

Peace  
  
Genma

Aoba

| 

Yahiko

Shizune

Ebisu

| 

Ibiki

Asuma

Kurenai

Mizuki

| 

Gai

Mei

Zabuza

Kakashi

Rin

Obito

| 

 

| 

Kotetsu

Anko

Doto

Izumo

Samui

**Dan**

| 

Hayate

 

 

Utakata

| 

Iruka

Yamato

 

| 

Utakata

Darui

C

Yugao

| 

Shisui

_Kakashi_  
  
Peace

| 

Peace

| 

3rd war

| 

3rd war

| 

3rd war

| 

3rd war

| 

3rd war

| 

Peace

| 

Kyuubi

| 

Peace  
  
Kabuto

| 

Hidan

| 

Itachi

Hana

 

| 

_Genma_

| 

_Asuma_

_Gai_

_Obito_

_Rin_

_Shizune_

| 

_Kurenai_

**_OBITO_**

**_YAHIKO_**

| 

**_RIN_**

| 

_Ibiki_

_Anko_

| 

_Ebisu_

| 

_Hayate_  
  
Peace

| 

Peace

| 

Peace

| 

Peace

| 

Peace

| 

Massacre

| 

Peace

| 

Peace

| 

Peace

| 

Peace  
  
| 

_Itachi_

| 

| 

_Iruka_

| 

 

| 

 

| 

 

| 

 

| 

 

| 

   
  
Series

| 

Chunin

| 

travelling

| 

travelling

| 

Shippuden

| 

 

| 

 

| 

 

| 

 

| 

   
  
| 

| 

| 

| 

 

| 

 

| 

 

| 

 

| 

 

| 

   
  
 

The above table is the original Naruto time line, more or less.

Bold is character death, italics when they made chunin and normal writing is when they were born.

I have also made new characters to make teams easier barely any teams were announced in cannon except team Choza and team Minato.

Peace

| 

Peace

| 

Peace

| 

Peace

| 

Peace

| 

Peace

| 

Peace

| 

Peace

| 

Peace

| 

2nd war  
  
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---  
  
Shibi

| 

Inoichi

Shikaku

Choza

| 

Yoshino

| 

Minato

Kushina

 

| 

Tsume

| 

Yashamaru

| 

 

| 

Sasori

| 

Raido

 

| 

Nagato

Konan

   
  
2nd war

| 

2nd war

| 

2nd war

| 

2nd war

| 

2nd war

| 

2nd war

| 

2nd war

| 

Peace

| 

Peace

| 

Peace  
  
Genma

Aoba

| 

Yahiko

Shizune

Ebisu

| 

Ibiki

Asuma

Kurenai

Mizuki

| 

Gai

Mei

Zabuza

Kakashi

Rin

Obito

| 

Akemi

Kazuo

| 

Kotetsu

Anko

Doto

Izumo

Samui

Kazuo

**Dan**

| 

Hayate

Iruka

Utakata

Aoi

Hakuya

Shisui

Tadase

| 

Yamato

Naruto

| 

Utakata

Darui

C

Yugao

| 

_Kakashi_  
  
Peace

| 

Peace

| 

3rd war

| 

3rd war

| 

3rd war

| 

3rd war

| 

3rd war

| 

Peace

| 

Kyuubi

| 

Peace  
  
Kabuto

| 

Hidan

| 

Itachi

Hana

 

| 

| 

| 

| 

| 

| 

|   
  
Peace

| 

Peace

| 

Peace

| 

Peace

| 

Peace

| 

Massacre

| 

Peace

| 

Peace

| 

Peace

| 

Peace  
  
| 

| 

| 

| 

 

| 

 

| 

 

| 

 

| 

 

| 

   
  
Series

| 

Chunin

| 

travelling

| 

travelling

| 

Shippuden

| 

 

| 

 

| 

 

| 

 

| 

   
  
| 

| 

| 

| 

 

| 

 

| 

 

| 

 

| 

 

| 

   
  
 

 

....

....

....

Right so Sasuke and Naruto do have their epic battle at the valley of end however Naruto cast him in a genjutsu to see what would happen if he carried on, both losing their arms and him ending up with Sakura, and that was more than enough to get him to stop.

They both have Indara and Ashuras powers still and Naruto here only has one eye that belonged to Shisui, the one Itachi gave her, and the other eye belonged to someone else who I haven’t decided on yet.

Naruto cannot use her powers the way she could before, but she has the memories on how to do them and is a quick learner because of it. She still has sucky chakra control as well. The tailed beasts aren’t sealed in her, but they are bound to her kinda, but at the same time they are casually wondering their old homes wherever they are, in her time, but when she travels back in time, they are bound to her and sealed their jinchruiki.

Kushina originally had the whole of Kurama inside of her however since Naruto has a more powerful seal, most of him goes into Naruto's seal. However he stays in Kushina partially so she doesn’t die but also because the seal won’t allow him to fully leave her- unless he is taken out of her. 

If I’ve not mentioned something or something isn’t clear enough, feel free to ask and I’ll answer.

 

\---------

 


	2. Chapter 1

Naruto Uzumaki- Namikaze had never felt so out of place. She, the daughter of Kushina Uzumaki, and the previous jinchuriki of the kyuubi no kitsune also known as the red hot habanero, and Minato Namikaze, the yondaime hokage and also known as konohas yellow flash. Naruto also had many titles and alias' over the years, some called her a demon and a brat however after the destruction of their home, she was known as a hero, gama sennin of mount myoboku, child of prophecy, hero of the five nations, reincarnation of Ashura, bearer of the rikoudo sennins power, bearer of all nine tail beasts powers, rokudaime hokage, bringer of peace and uniter of the five nations.

Or of what remained of the nations.

Here she sat before her closest allies who had survived the destruction of the fourth shinobi war; Kakashi, Sasuke, Ino, Shikamaru, Chouji, Kiba, Hinata, Killer Bee and Gaara.

One may ask what they were all doing or saying to make the one to help save the world so out of character. The answer was simple; they had asked her to take part in the CRA also known as the Clan Restoration Act, as she was one of very few Uzumakis and Namikazes. Those remaining of her clans were scattered across the five nations, she had only ever met two Uzumaki and that was Nagato who was currently dead and Karin, who was helping to keep the peace.

After some time Naruto still had not replied to them so Kakashi stepped up and placed a hand on her shoulder, giving her an eye smile as he did so, "Come on, Naruto. Taking part in the CRA isn't that bad."

Getting up from her chair in the hokage office she pointed at her old mentor, "How the hell would you know?! I'll be the one giving birth to all these children, 'tebayo! And another thing! Why aren't you and Sasuke teme taking part! You're literally the last of your clans!"

Kakashi gave her no reply but did pose as if he was thinking about her answer so Sasuke went up in his defence, "As a male I will have no issue impregnating several of the CRA women in one go whereas you can only have one or perhaps two children at a time if you have twins. So, I am in no hurry, especially since I am head of your security, I won't be there to raise my children-."

"And there's another thing! I'm hokage! I'm still dealing with the paperwork and meetings for the uniting of the five nations! So, if I have kids now, I don't think I'd be able to spend much time with them!"

Ino's eye twitched as she refrained from punching some sense into the blonde since she could be tried for treason, "Naruto. Don't you want a family?" she asked and gave a slight glare in the other girl's direction.

The air around Naruto suddenly turned cold and Kuramas chakra leaked out of her thereby releasing some killer intent as well, "No one, and I repeat no one wishes for a family more than me, Ino. It's something almost every orphan dreams of having and something I've been yelling about since we were kids. And you ask me if I want any?" her voice was quiet, which was what made her more fierce. Everyone in the room was reminded than she was the one to save them during a war that should have been saving her.

Hinata spoke up as she held her hands up, "She didn't mean it like that Naruto. We all know you wish for a family, however, the way this conversation is going now is as if you don't want one. Could you tell us why?"

She tilted her head back and groaned loudly, this conversation was getting nowhere, "I just said, I won't be a good mum until I have this work sorted. I will take part in the CRA after this paperwork and all these constant meetings and traveling is done! End of discussion! Now please, can I, Sasuke, Gaara and Killer Bee head off to where we're supposed to be?" she let out a heavy sigh of relief when those who she hadn't listed left the room.

"So, yo! How we gonna go?" rapped out Killer Bee.

"Either by my rinnegan, the usual way or via Narutos hiraishin." Stated Sasuke and all eyes turned to her, the rinnegan taxed Sasuke too much, running would be a waste of energy and Naruto could easily teleport them to their required destination.

She gestured for them to grab hold of her arm as she teleported them to the remains of Uzushiogakure, the home of the late Uzumaki clan. A few weeks prior, Gaara, Killer Bee and Naruto received word that a large beast was seen here with three tails. They had all written it off as someone trying to get them away from their homes however when people of their own village, jonin and chunin alike, who had been dispatched for missions not far from there, stated upon return that they had felt intense chakra signatures that of a jinchuriki, they decided to investigate.

None of the four present had a clue what it could be as all tailed beasts minus Shukaku and Gyuki were technically inside Naruto, but parts of the one and eight tails power was inside Naruto as well.

"I don't sense anything, do you Naruto?" asked Sasuke as he looked round yet when he received no reply, he turned to look at the blonde only to see her eyes filled with tears.

All three males turned awkward in that one moment, Naruto had always been an emotional female however they had never seen her cry, minus when her precious people died or when Sasuke came back, she had cried tears of joy.

None of them could figure what was upsetting the blonde till Sasuke remembered as he saw a swirl on one the the ruined buildings. They were in Uzushiogakure, the home of the late Uzumaki clan. Whilst Naruto had never been here herself, Lady Mito and Kushina had, and their memories were a part of the nine tails who had shown her what her family's home had once looked like.

Now understanding what was upsetting his friend, he went up her to and took her in his arms as she softly cried into his shoulder. Looking over to Gaara and Killer Bee he decided to tell them what was wrong, "This place is called Uzushiogakure, the home to the late Uzumaki clan. Kurama had shown Naruto what it looked like after her mother spoke to her about it back on Genbu Island."

Nodding, the other two went around to have a look, sending out their tailed beats chakra to try and lure out the creature that was scaring off people that lived nearby.

Sasuke sighed as they walked off, happy to have some privacy, "Naruto… We need you to calm down and sense what's here. Please?" he asked as he gripped her face in his two hands, using his thumbs to wipe away her tears. Nodding she gave a slight sniffle as Sasuke chuckled, "Good. Otherwise I would have had to record this and send it to everyone. Maybe to your relative back in Kumogakure?"

"No! You know what he's like! He's liable to tell everyone in Takigakure!" she yelled and whined at the same time.

"Now then, Lady Hokage. Will you help us do what we came here to do, or do I will to tell the Rookie Nine some of your…  _secrets_." He whispered the last word causing her to shiver, the amount of things Sasuke knew about her that the others did made her happy yet frightened at the same time.

Two could play at that game, though. She gave him a sickeningly sweet smile and tilted her head to the side before saying, "If you do that, teme, I'll tell everyone in Konoha that you cuddle, and grope sleeping blondes that you're supposed to be guarding, I wonder what Hinata and Ino would do to you then, hmm?"

Now it was Sasukes turn to shiver. When it came to the blonde, the two of them were very over-protective, a final wish they had granted from both Tsunade and Sakura during the perilous war they had fought.

He decided to use a different tactic, he grabbed her by the waist and bit the lobe of her ear whispered, and "You say you don't like it, yet your body says otherwise. Besides-" he let his hand wonder down to her generous behind and groped it under her cloak, loving the fact she had worn shorts today, "-Whenever I do grope you, you never seem to complain." He whispered huskily, as he trailed little kisses down her neck, around her face, yet never on her lips which caused her to whimper.

Having had enough of his teasing, she grabbed him, on hand by the straps of his uniform and the other in his hair, and forced his lips upon hers, causing him to moan and place one hand at the back of her neck.

They were too engrossed in each other, they had not heard the other two members of their parties return before Gaara spoke, "It would seem I am owed money, as are some other people. Killer Bee, I should hope you are prepared to pay when I announce the news to the others upon our return?" The couple moved away from each other, lightly panting.

"Care to explain why you are owed money Lord Kazaekage?" asked Sasuke as he unconsciously released some of his KI.

Gaaras reply without batting an eye, "Many of us that know you have placed a bet, some saying you are a couple, some saying you will never be a couple and, some saying you won't realize you have feelings for each other till after you get married to other people and start conducting an affair. I placed my bet that you are a couple."

"Ah-ha. And just how many people are in this bet of yours, Gaara?" asked Naruto whose face finally returned to normal.

"Myself, my siblings, the rookie nine, team gai, the gate keepers in both out villages, the kage, killer bee and his team, the people at that ramen store you love so much, majority of Konoha, all the senseis at Konoha, some of Suna citizens, and quite a few people that took part in the war… So a lot of the five nations."

By the time he was done, both Naruto and Sasuke had shocked faces, Naruto's being more noticeable. "Why are so many people interested in our love life?!" she asked.

Sasuke, not wanting to go further into this conversation decided to change the subject, "So, did you to find anything?"

Gaara and Killer Bee gave him a pointed look that said  _we-know-you're-trying-to-change-the-subject-and-sadly-we-agree-that-we-need-get-on-topic_ , it was quite an expressive look but Sasuke knew how to read people, as a bonus.

Naruto, for her part just sighed as they went along with it. It turned out that they had not found anything so finally Naruto let out her senjutsu to see if she could sense anyone or anything around yet could not find anything till she reached what she believed to be the entrance to the destroyed home, where she felt a large spike of KI coming their direction.

Opening her eyes, a smirk graced her lips as she shrouded herself in Kuramas chakra as she directed them via the air where she got a better view of what was up ahead and the land below her.

From what Kurama had shown her, compared to what she could see now, all that remained of Uzushiogakure's beauty was the sunset reflecting on its waters. Very few buildings were still whole but the main buildings such as home, council halls, the academy, the hospital and many more had fallen, yet it would seem the walls themselves had fallen down mostly in one or two pieces.

One things caught her attention, there were no bodies and she could see no graveyard.

' _Where had all the people been buried if not here? Kurama, do you know?'_ She asked as she entered her mindscape.

She had long since changed it. What was once a sewer was now a forest, as the nine tails sat in the centre, which she had made to look like Uzushigakure and Konohas forests combined. There were trees and lots of water, some animals and next to the fox was a waterfall and a little lake under it, with many stones going round it.

' _ **No. And I have never bothered to find out, yet I see why this would agitate you. There are very few graves in Konoha that have the name Uzumaki on and a similar amount on the memorial stone.'**_

' _When we get back home, if I forget, remind me to ask around and to look into the archives. Someone must know and if they don't, they have to be written somewhere.'_

She returned to reality as she sensed the felt the chakra from earlier even more prominently than before. She squinted her eyes and went down so the others could hear her clearly, "It's not Isobu or any of the others. But Sasuke, remember a few years back that crazy doctor and the zero tails?" when she received a nod, she continued, "Well, I think it might be someone trying to bring back the zero tails and-." She was cut off when a large burst of chakra sent her flying. The power was similar to that of her and Sasukes Chibaku tensei that they had trapped Kaguya and black Zetsu in.

She hit a wall, causing pain to spike in her back before she went back to normal and flew back to the others, only to see each of them fighting… her?

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!" she yelled in order to get someones attention as they took out the fake Narutos.

All three males turned to her and Sasuke asked, "Naruto, who kissed you first, Kiba or me?"

In return she turned beet red and yelled, "Like I'm gonna give you the satisfaction of answering that, dattebayo!"

"Yup, she's the real one." He stated with a knowing smirk before gesturing for her to come to him. He had just killed someone that looked like her, he wanted reassurance, yet he would affirmatively deny it should anyone ask.

He gave her a small kiss to the head before Killer Bee spoke, thankfully having dropped the rapping for a short while, "Yo! I wanted to know, why you wanted little Naru to take part in the CRA if you're together."

"Because, we both have to take part in the CRA to revive our clans. I already have two merged clans to revive adding a third would be near impossible." She would have gone into further details had clones of the late Itachi Uchiha appeared. "Oh now that's playing dirty! You can't expect us to kill Itachi! That's just cruel!"

"I do believe, old friend, that they do not care." Stated Gaara.

Sasuke for his part teleported the clones to different dimensions, ones that hopefully would do a great deal of damage to those who dare pretend to his beloved big brother, as Naruto passed each one to him. Gaara and Killer Bee having no problem killing the clones yet many times they were caught in genjutsus that Naruto had to break them out of.

Once the Itachi clones were gone, clones of the tailed beasts came and attacked, causing the three jinchuriki to activate their powers and Sasuke to use the Susanoo to start fighting seriously.

It was quite a sight to be held, with tails coming out of Naruto, Gaara and Killer Bee but then to also see the Susanoo fly in the air with Naruto in order to fight up top as the other two fought on ground, mostly.

What appeared to be Choumei, attacked Naruto as Son Gokus lookalike attacked Killer Bee, Saiken attacked Sasuke and Kokuo attacked Gaara, who was having a slightly harder time than the other two jinchuriki.

The three of them realised that the copies had all of the originals powers but could not fully utilize them, so the fights were not too hard to complete.

Once Naruto finished her fight, she went to help out Gaara and jumped in front of him as one of Kokous tails was about to hit him, hoping to grab a hold of it, instead piercing her through the chest and the lower part of her neck.

The edges of her vision blackened as blood and pain oozed from the hole the tail had created. Pain which felt similar to the time Sasuke's chidori had nicked her heart.

She felt hot, sweat forming on her face and other limbs as the tail slowly came out of her. The feeling of something entering her skin and slowly making its way out was unbearable.

Deftly, she could hear screaming and voices yelling her name as her world darkened black, small dots going bigger till it clouded her entire vision. She could also hear the tailed beasts within her, particularly Kurama, call for her before she fell to the ground and completely blacked out.

Naruto Uzumaki- Namikaze… gave her life for her friend, a fellow kage and jinchuriki.

The Shinigami was waiting for her as were her friends.


	3. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2- APRIL

' _ **Naruto Uzumaki- Namikaze wake up and listen to me right now!'**_ Roared Kurama as his tails flew wildly around the mind-scape.

' _Ouch Kurama. What the hell was that for?'_

They were in her mind-scape however the last thing Naruto could recall was being back in Uzushiogakure, when she jumped in front of Gaara.

Her eyes widened. ' _What happened to them? Are they okay? Wait, what happened to me? That tail went straight through me! I should be dead!_ '

Kurama in turn hit one of his tails on the top of her head, causing her to cradle it due to the shock and pain he had induced **.** _ **'If you'd shut up for five minutes I can explain!'**_  When he finally had silence he sighed and mentally thanked the rikudou sennin even though he had no part in silencing the girl.  _'_ _ **You were on the brink of death so I transported us back in time.'**_

He counted up till four to which he received a very loud reply which caused his ears to tuck against his head. ' _WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU SENT US TO THE PAST?!'_

' _ **You're loud voice is grating on my sensitive hearing so stop it! I sent you back to save you. I don't know when in time we are, after-al I simply charged your damnable seal which you had been working on with my chakra. I hadn't meant to send us back too far but I apparently had, don't you dare start talking. However, you are now being looked after by your perverted teacher.'**_

' _Kakashi sensei?'_

' _ **No the other one.'**_

' _Ebisu sensei?'_

' _ **The other one! The one with the toads!'**_

' _Oh, Ero-sennin! Wow, now that I think about it I sure do have a lot of perverted sensei.'_

' _ **You yourself are perverted so you have no room to talk. Now before I send you to the realm of consciousness, you may not hear from me for a month perhaps even longer as I will require time to regain my strength. And another thing, you are in the body of a five year old and cannot do what you could do at your older age.'**_

He pushed her out of the mind-scape before she could tell him off, basking in the silence that it allowed. He rounded into a ball and closed his eyes, regaining as much energy and chakra he could as soon as he could.

As Naruto tried to wake up, she tried to sit up however there was a strong hand pushing her down and a wet cloth on her forehead. Opening her eyes, she was greeted by a face she had thought she would never see alive again.

"Hey kid. Take it easy. You were badly hurt, though it seems you heal quickly since most of those nasty cuts are gone as well as those broken bones." He seemed to be talking at her instead of to her, he thought, so he waved his hand in front of her which caused her to blink rapidly and move back her head.

Looking around she asked in a hoarse yet childlike voice, "Where are we?"

She could see trees and, boulders, plants and a waterfall so she had an idea, "Takigakure. About a half day civilian walk from the borders of Konoha… Hey kid, what's your name?"

She thought about it for a moment, essentially there was no reason to lie. Even if this man wasn't the same man from her own time, he always had Konoha's best interests at heart. She would leave the man to make his own decision at the end.

She held out her hand and said, "If you'd like, I can  _show_  you some parts of my past to decide what your decision of me will be."

Jiraiya furrowed his brows, confused by what the young blonde was going on about however took her hand none-the-less. After-all she wasn't under a henge and his gama would have informed him if something was off.

.

.

.

As soon as his hand touched hers, it was as if he was being sucked into a void, entering a chasm of darkness before black flame lanterns lit up on a corridor. Deciding to follow it he reached a few doors, something he wasn't sure was ordinarily there when it came to young children.

A moment later, said child appeared dressed in the standard clothing of a Konoha orphan which confused him further. "This door." She said, her voice echoing within the corridor as she opened the middle door. The door itself was grey but had white and yellow fuinjutsu scribbles around it.

"This is my mindscape." She said, her voice leaving whispers around the new corridor they were walking in. He was no Yamanaka, but he was certain she shouldn't have this many doors in her mind. "I know a lot of information that's too hard to remember sometimes so I've organised it per door. You're welcome to read the door names."

He did as she suggested, reading each door name however each one juts confused him.

First war. Second war. Third war. Fourth war.

Tailed beasts- a door per beast.

Fuinjutsu- double doors.

Academy days.

Genin days.

Chunin days.

Clans.

Rookie nine moments.

There were many others but those ones stood out to him the most.

None of it made any sense. There was no such thing as the third war let alone a fourth. Sure, they were on the verge of war however it hadn't been announced.

Instead of questioning it, he carried on walking trying to ignore the feeling that he was being watched.

They stopped at a bright looking door which was already different to the others. However, he took notice of the dark intricate lines covering a large part of the door.

"This door leads to a mash up of memories, good and bad that made me who I am- who I was." He chose not to question her choice of words, feeling a bit like Minato in the sense that he found a very interesting puzzle he'd like to put together.

However, it was a puzzle he wished he could remake for no one should have a past as dark as hers.

.

.

.

When they returned from her mind, after having witnessed her memories both the good and the evil he felt a need to empty his stomach. Konoha had damaged his god-daughter, Minato their yondaime's daughter till she could find no true happiness.

He tried to process everything with a level head, Minato dying, Obito starting a war that destroyed one fifth of humanity. Rin being killed, Kakashi bearing all that on his shoulders. Tsundae's return, Orochimaru's defection, the sandaime's death, the death of her friends and allies.

He knew she kept a lot from him, showing only fragments of her memory which Kyuubi had allowed him to see. Kyuubi alone had almost made him jump when he had appeared from seemingly nowhere.

He didn't speak for a few minutes so she looked down and saw she was wearing a red happi that she knew he wore when he wasn't in his war clothes. She looked up at him and glared when she noticed there were no clothed underneath, meaning he had seen her naked.

Jiraiya came back to his senses when he felt a large amount of KI directed at him from the little blonde girl sitting across him. "What is it?"

"Why am I in nothing but your happi, ero-sennin?"

If Jiraiya wasn't a war veteran, or a sennin he would have quivered at the glare alone never mind the KI that she was radiating. As it stood he was, and would not be bullied by a child.

Yet he did have self-preservation instincts.

He raised his hands and said, "One, I found you in tattered clothing that had blood all over it so I had to put you in it. Two, what's with the ero-sennin thing?"

Her eyebrow twitched in annoyance, however after taking a few calming breaths she spoke, "You… are a self-proclaimed super pervert who spies on unsuspecting women in the bath-house. You are also a sennin, so ero-sennin for a perverted old sage it is!"

"We will get back to that soon enough. But for now… What do you intend to do?"

She started at the darkness within the forest, eyes devoid of emotion, "Fix our mistakes and the mistakes of my predecessors. Akatsuki, Obito, Madara, the kage… all of them. I'll make sure humanity survives no matter what." Her hand clenched tightly into the haori she was wearing, the only sign that showed how she felt.

He stared at her, once again as a puzzle he wished to piece together. However, gazing at her now he realised she was more like a broken mirror which had fixed itself, missing pieces along the way.

"You keep that up ero-sennin and I'll use my sharingan to record the moment."

That got him back to normal, well as normal as a self-proclaimed super pervert with little to no morals could be. "Sharingan?!"

"Okay, I'm gonna tell you my powers capabilities. I don't have those powers now, but since I know what I'm doing it shouldn't take me quite as long as last time for me to learn.

"Right so I can make a thousand or more shadow clones, I can do the rasengan and other S and A rank jutsu no matter the element due to my fuinjutsu skills, I managed to make a seal that allows me to use each element. I am a gama sennin like you but I don't take any frog like features like you do. I added a change in chakra nature into the rasengan and made it into the rasenshuriken. I have complete control of the nine tails chakra and we're partners as well. I also bear the power of the rikudou sennin, I gained that power during the fourth war. I gained the light half and Sasuke got the dark half.

"I have the sharingan, the most powerful if I do say so myself but not from my power. It belonged to and Uchiha, obviously, and he made it as powerful as it is now. It's the mangekyo sharingan and with it I can do the Susanoo, Amerterasu and kotoamatsukami which is a powerful genjutsu, so great that you won't even know you're in it. I have the chakra of all nine of the tailed beasts, and whilst they are all doing their own thing, they can meet up in my body. I think that about covers everything. Oh no wait, I can do the hiarishin as well."

Once again there was a pause as Jiraiya tried to consume all the information he was receiving. It was hard to picture the little girl in front of him at some point being able to do everything she was saying she could do, and had he not been in his sage mode he would have thought she was lying or just plain delusional.

One kai later, and he was still in the same predicament as he was before, much to the blonde's amusement.

As it stood, she was neither so he had to accept reality. After what seemed like an age he finally spoke up, "Okay… What is it you intend to do? Where will you stay?"

She seemed to deflate at his questions, "To answer your earlier question… I don't know. Before becoming hokage I was secretly promoted to chunin and entered into the Hunter Corps. A role that befit me more than the seat of kage." She smiled ruefully at the memory of her secret induction, even Hunter Commander had been surprised.

She trailed off so Jiraiya took the lead, "Why don't you come to Konoha with me? The war has yet to be announced, even though there is a lot of fighting going on. I can say you're Minatos father's daughter. He fled from Konoha after his wife had Minato so we can say that whilst I was in Ame he and his mistress found me and gave me you before she passed away. I know they're dead so they can't exactly claim otherwise. I can also say that when I returned to Konoha I left you with some people to look after you whilst I dealt with whatever the matter was, but when I found out it was about a war, I decided to come back to inform the people looking after you only to find that the home they lived in had burnt to the ground with them killed. You survived only because they told you to flee before they were murdered. That's when I found you and decided to bring you to Konoha. How does that sound?"

It was now Naruto's turn to look shocked, her mouth was agape and her eyes were wide. She had no idea the old man was capable of making up such an elaborate story but then again. He was an author who could pull a story line out of a large pair of breasts, so it was only natural he could make her a back story out of his ass.

Ignoring that, Jiraiya clapped and got up, picking his things and hoisting them on his back before picking her up princess style and made his way back to Konoha, ignoring the blonde as she kicked, punched and yelled till they made it to the gate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS CHAPTER TAKES PLACE IN APRIL, THE YEAR ITACHI IS BORN.


	4. Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

It was taxing Jiraiya a lot to not send the brat in his arms a nation from where he currently stood. The entire way from Takigakure to Konohagakure she had been rambling on and on throughout the journey. Sometimes commenting about their surroundings, commenting what they had done here or there on their training trip, commenting how many times he had perved on women for his research and ended up getting the hell beat out of him.

He had been surprised, a happy surprised, to hear some of the things that came after this war. Children got to grow up like actual children and not as warriors. His happiness came down, however, when he heard that Danzo had been the cause of so much death he wanted nothing more than to send the man to Mount Myoboku and torture the man, probably get Gamabunta to sit on him as well.

But alas he had no evidence and to say to the sandaime that a five year old was his evidence would surely get him a one way ticket to KID (Konohagakure Intelligence Division) or a mental health facility.

Usually people had a problem with Jiraiya being the chatter box and now he understood their pain, they had made it all the way to Konohagakures gates and that was when the brat decided to stop talking and look awe struck, which Jiraiya didn't understand since she had technically already seen them before, so when he asked about it she replied, "They look smaller than I remember despite being shorter than I was the last time I saw them."

After that, she didn't say a word, instead the citizens of the village were pointing and whispering about the child the sennin was holding onto. He held no doubt that by the time he had spoken to his kage that half the village would think he sired a child and decided to bring that child home, or some story along those lines.

He stopped when he reached his apartment, he would have to keep her with him so thankfully it was a very large apartment enough for Team Hiruzen never mind Jiraiya and Naruto.

She seemed surprised, yet again, that he had an apartment, saying in the future he merely travelled like a hermit and also proclaimed that part out loud as well.

As he went by he spoke of the different shops and training grounds he frequents, saying that once the current term was over, he would enrol her and not to his surprise she said she didn't care that she would be coming in midterm, she could handle anything they threw at her. He reluctantly agreed, they would not do very much till the next year anyway so that would be enough time to train her body a bit.

He could feel her giggling when they reached the tower and when he asked, she said it looked old, so in turn he gave her a small glare and made his way up the roofs to enter through the window only to see their hokage banging his head against his desk.

"Uh, sensei? What are you doing?" asked Jiraiya as he sat down across the kage with the girl still in his arms.

Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Sandaime hokage. The first thing Naruto noticed was he had no white hair. None. Another things she noticed was he had no wrinkles but a simple thick black line under each eye. He also didn't look quite as thin as he had before his death.

Said man stood up and pointed an accusing finger at the pair of them, "You! You are the cause of all this mayhem! You have been in the village less than two hours and already people are talking about you! And I do not mean in the way they usually do! They are saying you sired a child and decided to bring that child here! Some are saying you bought an Iwa or even Kumo child to the village! Explain so I may calm the nerves of the people."

Naruto had never seen the hokage lose his cool, he usually sent Iruka to do that for him. For Jiraiya, however, it was a normal day. His sensei always lost his cool when it came to him. Or Orochimaru. Or Tsunade.

"Well… I can help you there. This is Naruto Namikaze. I was given her during my stay in Ame and when I came back to Konoha I left her with one of my informants in Taki. So when I went to Taki I thought I'd tell them to be extra cautious due to all the fighting between Konoha and Iwa only to find them all dead and the home they lived in burnt to the ground. I found this one, when I went to wash in one the waterfalls and she seemed to have been attacked and fell down the waterfall as well. She wasn't seriously injured, thank goodness. But I'm sure that has to do with the fact that the mother was an Uzumaki. She has no family, besides Minato who is her brother, and Kushina as a distant relative. And me, as I intend to adopt her."

The sandaime got out his pipe which was not the same as she had remembered it to look like and puffed it twice before replying, "And how old is she?"

"I'm five." Spoke Naruto, shocking the two shinobi in the room, not that either of them showed said reaction.

"Well then Naruto, what would you like? To stay or go Taki?"

"I wanna stay with ero-sennin!" she pouted for good measure and wrapped her small arms around his neck, holding him close.

Jiraiya gave a loud boisterous laugh, "Well, there you have it, old man. She wants to stay. Now, can I have the papers to fill for her to be my adopted daughter and to apply her into the academy first years?"

The Sandaime raised a brow at that, "And why the first year, Jirayia?"

"She already knows what chakra is and if was placed in that year group she may… show her boredom is the form of pranks. Despite her looks, she is quite a clever girl. Go on, ask her something and most likely she will be able to answer it, it may not be in the best described way though she is a five year old and all."

Deciding to humour his old student the sandaime asked her, "Okay Naruto, what are the basics of chakra and the elements?"

"Um, well chakra is spiritual and physical energy merged together that can't be seen because of the eight tenketsu, unless it's manifested in large amounts. When using your chakra it has different nature; earth, wind, fire, water and lightning. With chakra you can do ninjutsu and genjutsu as well as others not so commonly used such as senjutsu. Did I miss anything ojii-san?" she asked with a foxy grin as the hokage looked astounded, with his pipe hanging limply from his mouth.

He cleared his throat when he heard one of his ANBU guards snigger, "Well done Naruto. One more thing, do you know why you are named Naruto?"

Naruto tried her best to look like a child raking their brain and that suddenly had a light bulb moment, "Oh I remember! It's because of ero- sennin's book! The tale of a gutsy ninja. The main character was called Naruto so they named me Naruto."

He gave her a gentle smile before riffling through some draws and shelves for papers and handed them to Jiraiya, "I need them done by tonight to make sure everything is in order and for her to be put in the academy soon. Also, you need to place her under the guardianship of another shinobi or kunoichi whenever you are needed on the fields."

He gave the gama sennin a look that expressed that he would be on the field a lot, "I'll ask Minato, Kushina, Kagami and Mikoto. One of them will always be in the village anyway. Come on Naruto. Lets' get you some clothes and anything else you need." He pocketed the papers and went off out the window, giving the sandaime a half wave half salute as they left.

They went to four different shops, one to get some simple black and orange clothes, another for shoes, and the third for weapons specifically a katana her size as well as some shuriken and kunai. The fourth and final shop was where Jiraiya had some furniture and cutlery for Naruto sent over to his apartment.

Once they finished shopping they went to a simple sushi place to eat and made their way back to Jiraiyas apartment. Naruto, at this time, was feeling slightly tired and mentally cursed her childlike body.

They got to the apartment near nine in the evening and Jiraiya requested she stay there and do whatever she want whilst he went to go speak with Minato.

.

.

.

Hiruzen Sarutobi sat in his office as he contemplated what his student had said to him earlier. As it stood, he could tell he was not lying about most of the things he spoke about however when it came down to locations his cheek muscle twitched, something Hiruzen had learnt meant he was either not telling the whole truth or he was simply lying.

He did not think his student was capable of lying about something so important so it went down to what place the girl was really from. Her hair colouring would suggest either Kumo or Iwa. However at the same time, Jiraiya did say she was a Namikaze so that could explain the colouring.

He would have contemplated it further had it not been for his old teammates, Koharu and Homura entering his office once again without permission to enter.

Neither sat as they looked at their kage, although he often wondered if they saw a kage or a silly boy that had been on their team so many years ago. "What do you know about Jiraiya and the child he bought back to the village, Hiruzen?" Asked Koharu.

He took a puff of his pipe before replying, "The child is not his, however, during his stay in Amegakure, she was placed in his care. When he was asked to return to Konoha, he left the girl with an informant of his in Takigakure and when he was dispatched there recently he saw the home burnt and the informant's dead, the girl herself had fallen off one of their waterfalls. The only reason she survived was because her mother was an Uzumaki and her father… was Minatos father. Whom we know has been dead for three years. The girl goes by the name of Naruto Namikaze and as very smart for a five year old. Jiraiya is also intending to adopt the girl and have her enrol in the academy first year. She knows enough and more to be placed in that year, if not the year above that. Any questions?"

"Do you intend to tell Minato and Kushina they have a relative here in Konoha?" asked Homura.

The sandaime stood up and looked out the window, gazing down at Konohagakure and her people. "They have both had no families for years. They deserve to know they have living members of their clans, do they not?"

"Of course they do, however I believe Homura was trying to ask in his oblique way, whether the rest of Konoha will be informed as well? It could be very dangerous since Kushina is a known jinchuriki and Minato will be sent often to the front lines. This will cause him to have many enemies. Kumo already hate him for not being their own shinobi, the Namikaze were founded there after all."

"I will leave telling the public matter to Jiraiya, Minato and Kushina. It will be their decisions. Is that all?"

"Yes, we believe so. Do we have your permission to tell the others that she is Jiraiyas adopted child?" asked Koharu, and when they saw the hokage wave it off and nod his head yes, they left the room, bowing and bidding their leader farewell.

As they left the sandaime made a comment, "I'm getting too old for this." And turned around to finish his paperwork.

.

.

.

Minato was sitting against a tree stump as Kushina stood before him, reprimanding his lack of safety and his idiocy for trying to make his new jutsu without the proper safety measures when his old sensei came.

"Minato! Kushina! I see he's done something stupid again has he eh?" asked the sennin as he looked at Kushina with a sly grin.

"Yes he has. He was trying his new jutsu without being careful and nearly blew up his arm dattebane!"

"Well you know what they say about blondes…"

"Hey! I'm right here you know!" yelled a pouting Minato who had his arms crossed as he glared at his sensei, far too afraid to do so to his girlfriend.

Clapping his hands, the sennin gestured for Kushina to sit down as he did so also, "Right, I'm here to ask you guys something. I'm adopting a girl-." He didn't get to finish his statement as Kushina started to squeal in delight about him finally getting a child. He raised his hand, his face serious, making Kushina stop her squealing as she quietened down. "I'm mentioning this because… With a war about to start, I won't always be in the village and will need her to be looked after during those time periods. If I'm not her, she'll go first to Minato, if he's not here, she'll go to Kushina. If Kushina isn't here I'll be going to two different Uchiha and ask if they will be willing to look after her. Any questions?"

Kushina was the first to speak as she pointed a finger to her lover, "Why does the child have to go to him first?" she whined.

Sighing, he replied, "Simple… her name is Naruto Namikaze and she is Minatos sister… but she is also an Uzumaki…"

Both sets of eyes blinked as Minato was the first to break the silence that had fallen amongst them, "Um sensei… I think I heard you wrong, could you repeat that?"

Jiraiyas eye twitched in annoyance, Minato knew he didn't like repeating things yet he asked anyway, "I said her name is Naruto Namikaze and she is your half-sister as well as a relative to Kushina. I know this because she was given to me during my stay in Ame. Now, will you agree to look after her or not?" his annoyance was clearly showing in his voice, he had, after all, left said child in his apartment alone when anything could happen.

"Of course!" they both yelled simultaneously, making the pervert cover his ears as he glared at them, to no avail.

"We've both been without family for years! Of course we'll look after her!" yelled Minato, shocking the two of them. He was usually the clam one between the two of them and hardly ever showed this much excitement out in the open. "Tell us about her." He said after he had calmed down somewhat, his legs were still bouncing where he sat.

"Well… she's five years old, she's smart, loud, has a lot of energy… she's kind and loyal… but doesn't really like stuff most kids do. Tomorrow if you're both free, you can come for breakfast or lunch if you want, and you can meet her?"

"Um lunch. I've got to train Kakashi in the morning… could he come to lunch as well if he wants to?" replied Minato, to which Jiraiya nodded tentatively.

He gave them both the papers they needed to sign and went off, saying he had to return to Naruto, and that he would meet up with them tomorrow.

.

.

.

Kagami Uchiha received a visit from none other than Jiraiya of the sennin after nine in the evening, much to the Uchihas surprise. He had instantly assumed it was about the rumours that were circling the village about the child he had adopted so he ushered the man into his living room and offered his some sake which he gratefully accepted.

"Kagami. You and I have been on missions together from time to time and I know you already have a child to worry about, however I was wondering if you could look after the child I adopted whenever I am sent out of Konoha? I warn you now that I will be called out often and-."

Kagami raised his hand to stop the sennin form rambling, "You need only ask, and I will do it. However I will need to see if the child gets along with my son and vise versa. May I know the gender and name? All I know is the child is blonde. Namikaze blonde with those sticking blue eyes as well."

He gave Jiraiya a pointed look that said  _I-know-who-she's-related-to-so-don't-bullshit-me_. So in return Jiraiya gave a chuckle, "Her name is Naruto Namikaze. However her mother was an Uzumaki where her father was a Namikaze. I do believe they will get along but it is your home and your life. I do intend for her to be put in the academy first year, so they will be on different years, but she's very clever and could be put in the year above."

Kagami took a sip of his sake as he allowed himself a moment to digest the information. "What… is she like?"

At the question a smile yet tentative smile graced the sennin's face, "She's loud. And talkative. And is liable to make friends with a rock. Over-all her personality is open and kind hearted but…" He paused thinking how he should phrase this, "She has her moments when she won't be paying attention not because she's being rude- she just can't help it."

Most shinobi who lived a life like Naruto had they were sure to be suffering from PSTD or other trauma. Whilst he had no evidence she did, it would be best to mention it anyway.

This caused the Uchiha raise a brow and was about to speak but Jiraiya interrupted him, "She also has obsession for ramen and orange." At that, Kagami thought of two people, Obito and Kushina. Obito loved orange, Kushina loved ramen. And if the girl was clever like Jiraiya, she would be a combination of Minato, Kushina and Obito… he shivered but nonetheless gave a smile. "…However she's a lot mellow about the orange than Obtio." At that, Kagami let out a small sigh of relief.

Jiraiya left the necessary documents with Kagami should he agree and went off to deliver the signed forms to the hokage and explained why not all the guardian forms were not there.


	5. Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

6 AM the next day Naruto was on her toes. When Jiraiya had returned the previous night he woke her up and explained where he had been, who he was with and why he had gone to them. He spent some time explaining in great detail yet she heard nothing after he mentioned her parents were coming over for lunch.

So when she woke up she made as many clones as she could, only five, and got them to help clean the apartment with her. It was mostly clean with the exceptions being the bathroom, floors and windowsills. After ten or so minutes her and her clones finished cleaning and she released them, instead taking a hold of her god father made adoptive father and dragged him to the shopping district.

She had an idea of what she would be making them; onigiri, sashimi, ramen with chocolate and coffee flavoured cake.

When they returned home she made two clones and they, alongside Jiraiya, started to cook, although it was mostly Naruto cooking whilst the sannin helped cut ingredients.

By 11AM everything was done, save for the cake that would need some extra time in the fridge for the frosting to cool down, and not even a minute after Jiraiya set out the table did the doorbell ring.

As soon as the bell rang Naruto's nerves became on edge, unsure on how she should act.  _Should she act like a child? Or should she just act like how she is now? She was pretending to be some sort of a protégée so it shouldn't be a problem to act like herself, right?_

She was not given any more time to go through her thoughts as her parents walked in.  _No not parents, brother and cousin._

The two were talking animatedly to Jiraiya till they saw her and she squired under their gaze. It was not a judging gaze nor a glare filled with hatred. It was a simple look you give a person when you meet someone, something all people did yet shinobi did in a more scrutinizing way.

Kushina was the first to stop the awkwardness in the room as she jumped and took a hold of the unsuspecting child and squeezed her to her chest, squealing sentences that Naruto could not make out as she was trying her very hardest to breath within the suffocating hold.

It had taken both Jiraiya and Minato to pry the red head off of the blonde and as she did so, the younger female took large gulps of air in and held a hand to her erratically beating heart.

After some time her heart calmed down and she looked at the two of them. They were very tall so she had to crane her neck up high to see them clearly. Seeing her struggle the two of them crouched down to Naruto's level, Minato extending him hand out with a warm and gentle smile on his face, "Hi. I'm Minato Namikaze, your older brother." When she took hold of his much larger hand she felt a small electric shock course through her body but did not allow that to stop her from forming a small and shy smile. When he released her hand he carried on with introductions, "And this very hyperactive woman who was squeezing you earlier is Kushina Uzumaki. Your cousin, as I'm told. It's nice to meet you."

There was a small lingering silence that Naruto noticed and realized she hadn't introduced herself to them yet, "Um… I'm Naruto Namikaze…" she wasn't sure how to introduce herself to them. These were her parents yet they were not at the same time. She couldn't say she was the rokudaime hokage because there wasn't even a yondaime yet. She couldn't say she was the jinchuriki to the kyuubi as he was sealed into Kushina. So she decided to change topics, children often did that, "I thought… someone else was coming, 'tebayo. With you, I mean." She gave a glance at Jiraiya, out of confusion that she didn't need to fake.

"Ah… You mean Kakashi. He doesn't do very well with strangers and asked to be permitted not to come… I hope that doesn't affect any plans you may have had?" he asked as he looked towards his sensei as well as his sister.

"Not really. I'll just put his plates and stuff away then." The white haired man moved to pick the extra table set away as he asked them all to sit at the table, Naruto refusing as she helped him in pouring the food into bowls for everyone to serve themselves. "The gaki and I made this, well mostly her. She didn't want me cooking, says it would give a person a bad belly for a week." He shrugged as if he took no real offence but there was a small glare pointed in said girl's way.

She shrugged, "It's not my fault you can't cook, ero-sennin." Minato and Kushina both looked at each other as she called the sannin that and when they both confirmed via looks that that was in fact what she did say, they let out belly churning laughs.

Within these laughs Minato was trying to say something but no one could make out what. After a few moments he realized he was making fun of what his little sister said. She could take offence and get really upset about it, so he stopped laughing and took large gulps of air and stood straight. When he fully calmed down he went forwards and ruffled her hair, causing her to shriek and try to fix it, in turn making the two males in the room to chuckle. "Sorry. I didn't mean to offend you or your… choice of name for sensei."

Naruto blinked a few eyes and gave a smile shaking her head that meant she took no offence and picked up the dishes to put them on the table so they could eat.

Lunch was as simple affair, Minato and Kushina asking questions, some of which Naruto answered but mostly Jiraiya did the answering, it was the wisest course of action since she wasn't sure what story he was going to make her follow yet. However most of lunch was filled with stories from the two jonin, from the different missions they did to what Minato was currently teaching team Minato.

.

.

.

Once lunch was over the two lovers left and the remaining two sages made their way to the academy.

As they went, Naruto noted the various differences that had occurred after the war. Many shops that were there, currently were not there, trees were smaller, many she didn't recognize, houses she didn't recognise were everywhere but she thought that was most likely due to the Kyuubi incident and not the war.

When they reach the academy she noticed one very important object was not there.

The swing that was on one of the trees she would often sit on as a child as she watched parents or family come and collect their loved ones. The swing she would sit on as she heard the families whisper and glare at her for being the jinchuriki. People who she served to protect, who later celebrated when she returned after the war.

So lost in thought she didn't notice her surroundings and ended up bumping into another child, causing them to trip forwards thereby falling on top of the person that the first had been talking to.

Both of them groaned as they got up, as they did so her eyes grew wide as she noticed who they were.

Despite the fact they looked very young, they looked similar to the time during the chunin exams first unofficial test.

Izumo and Kotetsu.

It was when they started to wave their hands in front of her face did she notice a third person. Said person was laughing similarly to how she used to laugh when she was 13, yet this laugh was not covering pain. Seeing this last person made her heart skip a beat 3 times in a row and made her blood run cold.

Obito Uchiha.

The boy who started the fourth war in order to avenge the death of the girl he loved.

Thinking quickly she bowed to the future gate guards, "I am so, soo sorry! I wasn't paying attention to where I was going!" in turn the two of them chuckled and ruffled her hair. People seemed to be very fond of doing that today, she noted.

"No harm done. But you really should watch where you're going. Don't want to get in any trouble now do we, little miss?" said Kotetsu.

She shook her head, "Of course. Thank-you. I'm Naruto, by the way."

"I'm Izumo, and this is Kotetsu. The idiot in the back is Obito." Obito made an indignant noise in the back of his thoat which caused the two other boys to chuckle once again.

"You guys! You gotta stop with that! I am a genin after all!" whined Obito, causing Naruto to let out a small smile on her face as she allowed some ideas on how to stop obito from going psycho run through her mind. "Hey! I've got a question for ya', Naruto. Are you related to Mianto sensei by any chance? You look a lot like him, with the blonde hair and blue eyes. Don't really see much of those here. Well, we do, ya know, the Yamanaka clan have those colours but not striking ones like yours-"

Naruto cut off his rambling and said, "You're Obito Uchiha? The one on the same team as Kakashi and Minato?" she tilted her head to the side as she took in his attire. Orange and blue jumpsuit, most likely with the uchiha fan on the back and a very noticeable pair of orange goggles on. His outfit reminded her an awful lot like her own before she made genin and after, minus the goggles.

She made a mental note to burn all her orange clothes when she got back.

Obitos care free aura changed and his smile turned into a scowl. Like that he looked an awful lot like the Uchiha's she had known as a child. Mostly Sasuke and Itachi. "I am. So…?"

"Um…" she looked to Jiraiya for help. She was still unsure as to whether people outside of their little bubble were allowed to know she was his 'sister'. He gave her a curt nod, "Yeah… I'm his half-sister…"

"Cool! I get to see sensei later and say I met his sister! Hey, have you met Bakashi yet?" he jumped right in her face causing her to jump back and take a protective stance, out of reflex. Though with her none intimidating body, it most likely looked more comical than intimidating.

When she realised what he said, she furrowed her brows. She didn't lie how rude he was being in regards to her sensei but she didn't have any room to talk, she was often rude to Sasuke as well. When she looked back at him, she noticed Izumo and Kotetsu had gone somewhere else and the corridor was mostly empty. Class most likely had begun again.

"That's uh… You mean Kakashi right?" she asked and when he nodded it took a lot of restraint for her not to laugh again. He hadn't even made a comment on her stance.

Why oh why did no one ever think of that name? Herself included?

' _ **Because you fantasized sleeping with him?'**_

' _Once! Maybe twice! And come on! What self-respecting, heterosexual female did not fantasize having Kakashi in bed with her, huh?! Wait, I thought you were gonna be asleep for a while?'_

' _ **I was going to but I felt the need to comment. Goodnight, brat**_.'

"Um no… I haven't met anyone besides you and Minato from your team…"

Before he replied he raised both hands in the air with his hands fisted, clearly happy about something, "Yes! I get to rub it in the temes face!" Naruto used every ounce of control in order to not punch him.

Team Minato and team Kakashi seemed to be very similar, yet they had the roles reversed. Where the Uchiha on team Minato was a load mouthed idiot, the Uchiha on team Kakashi had a stick up the arse, which she assumed Kakashi had. She had heard stories from many people about Kakashi's 'Uchiha slash emo' faze.

To add to the similarities to the two teams, Rin was a medic who happened to have a large crush on the emo of the team. The only difference was that the loudmouth of team Kakashi was sleeping with the emo, which she believed was not the case with team Minato.

She hoped.

Jiraiya chose that moment to interrupt and mention to Obito that Naruto needed to fully register for the academy, so he had let them leave, giving a wave as he left. That left the two of them to finish any paperwork that was required for Naruto to join the academy.

.

.

.

Obito was late. Not surprising considering he was always late. The question was, what would his excuse be today?

The three of them sat under the shade of a tree, each reading a scroll on different things; Kakashi about lighting release, Rin about medical ninjutsu and Minato reading both about wind release and fuinjutsu.

It was half an hour after the set meeting time when team Minato heard a very loud shout. All three heads turned to look where it came from and were happily surprised to see it was Obito.

"Hey! Sorry I'm late. I was at the academy when I got side tracked talking the Minato sensei's sister."

Kakashi scoffed and gave a glare, "Out of all the lies you have come out with that is by far the worst. Sensei doesn't even have a sister."

"He does! She looks exactly like him! Yellow hair, blue eyes! And she has, like, three whisker marks on each of her cheeks as well!" he replied giddily.

The mark of annoyance was on Kakashi's face, yet before he could reprimand the Uchiha for making up another lousy excuse, Minato spoke up, "You met her? Did she mention me or Kushina at all?"

All three of his students looked at him, Rin and Kakashi with surprise yet Kakashis was better hidden and Obito looked happy.

"She did. She's the one that told me she was your sister. I asked her if she was related to you and she said yeah… see Bakashi! I wasn't making up an excuse!"

He pointed to the Hatake who gave an indifferent look before replying, "Just because you met a new person does not give you the right to be late. There are rules and regulations for a reason-"

"Rules are made to be broken. Besides, there is an exception to every rule, we learnt that in the academy remember?" Obitos usually warm aura suddenly turned cold as he glared at his team mate. Said team mate was unfazed as he turned his back to his team, requesting they start their training for the day.

Minato decided to get them to spar each other, leading to both Kakashi and Obito being heavily bruised and injured, Obito a bit more so than Kakashi.

.

.

.

The next day Naruto was enrolled in the academy and came to class on time. She would not make a bad impression on the first day. She also had to remember it wasn't only her own reputation on the line but also Jiraiya's and Minato's.

As she introduced herself to the class she looked around to see if she recognised anyone, and was not surprised when she realised she didn't recognise a single one of them.

If her memory served correctly this was the year Itachi was born meaning sometime during this year the third war would start, and Akatsuki would catch Danzo's attention, yet he wasn't going to do anything about that till later.

Having been sent back in time there were many things she wished she had thought to ask about in more detail, but since she hadn't, they had to make do with the information she currently had at her disposal.

Given her current power there was very little she could actually do herself in order to prevent a great deal many things but that did not apply to Jiraiya, who was free to go around as he pleased as long as he kept the hokage updated.

She had told Jiraiya to either go or send word to the Ame three to not trust Hanzo nor Danzo, even if they claim to be there by orders of Konoha.

As soon as she was introduced to the class she took a seat in the back of the room near the window and paid half of her attention to what was going on in it. She already knew all the information they were teaching anyway, after all she was hokage, which is something she wouldn't have gotten if she didn't know the history of the five nations and everything else important.

It was going to be a long and slow year, the only things she would increase was her body strength and capabilities. Of course there were cases where children were pushed up a year, Kakashi and Itachi had been prime examples of that statement, but the person must have the right endurance and capabilities in a fight. She doubted she had very much of either or those things in her five year old body.


	6. Chapter 5

JULY- 3 MONTHS-

.

.

.

Naruto was bored. She was currently sat in history class learning about Hashirama Senju, the shodaime hokage, and she knew everything she needed to know and then some. After-all, she had met the man.

During her three months at the academy she had run into a lot of people she recognised, yet some had to introduce themselves before she fully recognised them. Iruka-sensei, Mizuki, Hayate and Doto Akimichi who she recalled hearing worked with her father during the war that would be announced later in the year.

She had also met Izumo and Kotetsu a few times within academy walls. And much to her surprise she had seen yet not met; Asuma, Anko, Gai, Kurenai and Ibiki. She was thoroughly pleased when she didn't see the pedo-hebi with Anko or she wasn't sure what she would have done. Yet knowing the old snake, he would simply brush it off as Jiraiya having taught her to test her abilities on him or some crap.

As she thought of the hebi sennin, she wondered when he would defect and if it was possible to stop that from happening. Fighting him was out of the question, she was nowhere near the sennins level at this point in time. A few more years and she should be able to do quite some damage to that smug face.

She shook her head, if she kept thinking about him she would get angry, if she got angry the teacher would wonder why and get worried. She absolutely hated being pampered just because she was the adopted daughter of a sennin and sibling to the Yellow Flash.

She contemplated whether or not she should leave a clone in her place during the break, yet thankfully the shodai was on her side as the door opened and in came Minato Namikaze, her father turned brother.

The teacher, a female, did her very best not to blush and Naruto found she wasn't very irritated about that. Minato was a good looking male, so it was obvious women notice it. As long as they didn't try anything, it was all good.

He whispered to the teacher, Akira, yet Naruto could hear, "I'd like to take my sister for some private training if that's alright? She gets easily bored and already knows the academic side of things. If she has homework, we'll take that and she can finish tonight."

Akira sensei looked nervous, unsure what she should do, yet when she looked at Naruto she understood what the older blonde was saying. Naruto looked as bored as she felt.

She sighed and nodded to Minato before saying, "Naruto. Namikaze-san is here to pick you up early. If you collect your homework, you can go with him."

Naruto hid her joy quite well yet she knew some happiness could be seen on her face as she made her way down the stairs to the teacher's desk, taking her homework on the shodai and left with her brother.

They were making their way to training ground 7 when she asked, "Don't you have to be with your team aniki?"

Minato smiled and ruffled her shoulder length hair, causing her to pout and fix it the best she could and, "Well… it's already past noon and we've done quite a bit this morning so I let them go early to get some training in with you."

She him a smile back and they quietly made their way to their destination. She wondered if this is what it felt like to have a brother. Or perhaps even a father at a young age. Ero-sennin had been a father to her when she was already a teenager and even then, she was so engrossed in getting Sasuke back she hadn't thought to cherish these sort of moments with him.

She had never thought he would die on her, the way he had. But Jiraiya would have wanted to go out fighting and in a useful way rather than on a sick bed. Yet it hurt non-the-less.

When she had first met her father she had felt several things. Anger for sealing Kurama within her. Sadness that he had left her unloved. And happy to know he loved her even though she hated herself for all that she was incapable of.

Yet here she was, sending time with her father, not that he would ever know who she truly was to him. He would forever think her his little sister, and Naruto found she didn't very much mind.

When they weren't too far from the training ground she felt a chakra signature that even after being in the presence of it, made her blood run cold before she reminded herself he meant no harm.

Obito Uchiha. She found he was very much like Kakashi sensei, always late for team meetings, yet not for missions, always had an outlandish excuse which was far more believable than Kakashi's. She wondered whether or not Obito was a fan of Icha Icha as well, she wouldn't be surprised.

Minato had either noticed or chose not to comment on Obito being there but her inner prankster couldn't help it, "Aniki? Why is Obito at the training grounds?"

Minato's head quickly turned to look at her causing him to trip over a tree root, subsequently causing Naruto to giggle at the sight. The revered yondaime hokage, yellow flash of konoha, triiped over a tree root in the village hidden in the leaves.

Oh the irony was real.

Minato did not allow this to deter him as he brushed off the dirt from his clothes and looked discretely at his sister, "And how would you know if he was there exactly Naru?" he had taken a very keen liking to shortening her name, especially when he saw the flustered look it would give her.

She chose to ignore the name and continued with the conversation at hand, "I have Uzumaki blood. I'm good as sensing other people. Ero-tousan also taught me the very basics in senjutsu as well." It wasn't a lie, whilst Naruto needed her physical body to be stronger, she did not have Kurama to tell her when she was being followed or if someone she wished to avoid was nearby. Therefore she had asked him to help her with senjutsu without absorbing very much of nature's energy.

She was slightly miffed at the thought of having to relearn the art of a sennin of Mount Myoboku all over again, but conceded that there was nothing to be done about it.

Minato raised a brow, looking curious and indifferent yet she could sense he wasn't pleased at his sensei teaching his little sister something so very dangerous when she was so young.

"And how is that going?"

"It's alright. He's not teaching me very much, but I asked him to when I noticed that some people were following me by looking through a mirror. I wanted to be able to sense when people are doing that so I won't get surprised by their presence."

Minato nodded in reply, it made sense that she would want to learn for the purpose she stated yet he was not happy that a five year old was achieving things that and adult would. It made him think of Kakashi who had made chunin at the mere age of 7, robbed of his childhood, yet Minato had taken the young Hatake under his wing in order to help him socialize yet none of his hard work had come to fruition, much to his chagrin.

The two of them once again lapsed into a quiet walk that did not last more than a minute as they made it to the training grounds. Naruto looked at the memorial stone yet, pleasantly surprised there were no added names. That did not mean there were no deaths, it simply meant their bodies had been returned. Everyone was bought home.

She was not naïve enough to think that no one had died, they were on the brink of a war with the other nation's after-all.

As they approached the centre of the grounds Obito looked up at the two of them, he had clearly been studying as he had scrolls laid out in front of him that he had kept looking at, "Minato sensei? What are you and Naruto doing here?" he asked as he stood up straight.

Minato smiled at his student as he spoke up, "Just thought I'd do some private training with her before she went bored out of her mind and did something. Don't even try to deny it." He looked sternly at her as she opened her mouth to say her defence, "Soo. What are you working on there, Obito?"

He looked down at the scrolls and hurriedly picked and packed them, clearly having forgotten they were there. Yet he did not pack them away quick enough for Naruto to not notice what was on them, and most likely Minato as well, "You're working on a katon jutsu?" she titled her head to the side, truly intrigued that he would hide it from them or even training outside of the Uchiha compound, "The great fireball is mostly for distraction purposes since it's easily noticeable and avoidable, especially since it doesn't move in different directions. If I had a katon affinity I would want to learn the phoenix flower jutsu since it uses shuriken as well as fire and is able to go in the direction you throw them at."

Both Minato and Obito looked stupefied at the young Namikaze. It was not every day you heard a first year academy student giving advice on jutsu's to a genin. Obito groaned, "Seneiiiii! Your sister is already ahead of me! I feel like-like." He groaned again, tugging at his unruly hair.

"There's no need to be upset, yet. I can't even use my chakra for very much, yet you can do a lot of things I can't. There's no use knowing the theory of something if you can't do the practical side of it." She shrugged her shoulders. It was true, even in her own time. No matter how much you studied something, there was no use if you didn't have the affinity for it. Or in her case, it wasn't hard as she had the chakra of all nine of the tailed beasts, all having their own abilities, giving her access to each of the elemental affinities. "I can't even balance a leaf on my head yet you can water walk."

Minato's head looked to his student in confusion, he had yet to teach his students that. He had taught them tree walking and each of them individual jutsus that seemed appropriate, so how did he know how to water walk? And how did Naruto know that?

He looked between his student and sister, not sure who to ask so he settled for his sister, giving her the look that meant he wanted answers, he wasn't disappointed, "I was taking a walk by Naka River near the Uchiha district when I saw Obito walking on water. Academy students don't learn that, in fact, most genin don't learn that till at least 6 months into the programme."

Obito and Minato looked incredulously at her, wondering just how much she actually knew. This five year old knew things that weren't even official, yet they had a sneaking suspicion that it had a lot to do with Jiraiya. She had been raised by him, or so they thought.

"When are we actually going to get into my training?" it was that question that bought them out of their thoughts and back to reality, Naruto writing down the necessary hand signs for the phoenix flower jutsu and Minato setting her a regime of training exercises to do, to which she argued about, since she already had her own. After looking through it, he begrudgingly admitted her one was better for her and allowed her to carry on with that, but told her she must attend extra lessons with one of her guardians.

As if she wasn't secretly practicing by herself.

After three and a half hours of training; one for building up her speed, one for building her strength, one for chakra control, and the extra half hour was spent on helping Obito and getting the theory down. Needless to say, Naruto had a long way to go till she would be happy with her results.

Minato had put his foot down when Naruto had hinted towards using some weapons, saying she had no upper body strength in order to use one without hitting something close to her, to which even Obito agreed on.

She had been so engrossed in her training she hadn't thought about Obito being there at all. He reminded her of a combination of Kiba, Kakashi sensei and her childhood-self combined. That was not something many people would have liked in a combination yet it worked very well for the; to be mass murdered.

Of course, she did plan on putting a stop to that, putting a stop to Obito being crushed… maybe she would allow him to be crushed so that Kakashi could have a sharingan eye and after he gave the eye,  _then_  save him. Although she thought that was very cruel and heartless for her to do to someone so kind, Kakashi had done a lot of good with his friend's sharingan.

' _As if I have that many emotions left to care about that Uchiha bastard.'_

Although… she did have a couple of sharingan eyes she had found in Danzo's hideout. He had stolen many and not implanted them all into himself, but people, namely the Uchiha, would question where he got the eye from.

She would have to properly sit down for a full 24 hours with no distractions in order to fully think of what she wanted to do and how she was going to do it.

Once the time was over, the two males were slightly short winded yet Naruto was hardly fazed. She had been doing a different regimen from what she had shown Minato that even Gai sensei and Lee would approve of.

One week hadn't been enough to get her stamina back to what it was, but it was enough to see a difference in herself, all she needed was perseverance and all would work out.

Hopefully.

.

.

.

The next day when Naruto woke up she was feeling very achy and sore. Her legs felt numb yet also felt as if the tips of several kunai were running down then, her arms felt far too heavy to lift as if they were made of led, and her back seemed to be bruised yet the young Uzumaki knew it was not.

She sighed knowing this was a downside to Kurama being asleep. She would have to activate the healing process herself yet she felt far too tired to do so. Huffing she closed her eyes and felt for her chakra. Once she found it she willed it to spread around her body in order for it to heal her.

Kurama would usually do this part for her, but seeming as he would be asleep for however long he needed, she had to make do with herself doing it. It wasn't as if she was going on S rank missions or anything.

Heaving herself up she saw the sun had just risen as she had, a normal occurrence with the young blonde, since as long as she could remember, she had been waking up with the sun. Sasuke had been the exact opposite, always wanting to do things at night. Now it all made sense, she was the sun; reincarnation of Ashura where he was the moon; reincarnation of Indara.

The irony wasn't lost on her, when she remembered her role was to lurk in the darkness of the world to fix its corruption.

She stood up and looked at her room, there were scrolls scattered across the floor as she had spent a lot of time studying the laws which were in place in this time; they were mostly the same with minor differences she would be expected to know.

She was silently dreading going to the academy, Akira sensei was a nice yet firm woman, much like Iruka sensei had been, and like all first year teachers, she was reluctant to do much physical training which was what Naruto needed to work on the most.

She spoke to Jiraiya about it after she had cleaned her room and made them some breakfast, and the sennin had said he would try and work something out for her. She was doing more physical training at home than she was in the ninja academy.

She sighed as she made her way to the academy, she was slightly sore after all the training she had done, despite having healed herself. She would have to do more chakra exercises before she could heal herself fully without Kurama.

She longed for the day she could return to her mindscape and have the angry fox scowl and talk to her, because despite his outward appearance he very much enjoyed talking to her. All she could do now was go there and curl around his fur, receiving a response through his tail pulling her into his warm embrace.

Once she made it to the academy she bumped into a messy, dark haired Uchiha. No not Uchiha, he couldn't be. The only Uchiha who smiled was Obito and this was most definitely not him.

"Oh. I'm so sorry for bumping into you uh…" spoke Naruto, confused as to who this was.

He gave her a small smile and replied, "That's alright. My name's Shisui Uchiha. And I didn't hear your name miss…?"

"Namikaze. Naruto Namikaze." She waited for the tiring response she had been receiving from everyone whenever she used that name, yet received a very refreshing look instead.

It was as if he were staring at a puzzle with that he couldn't wait to piece together with a pure unadulterated interest, which caught her off guard. No one had looked at her like that before, minus Orochimaru but he didn't count. "Ah, well it's a pleasure to meet you Naruto-san."

Raising her hands in a stop gesture she spoke, "No,  _please_  no honorifics, please. I'm not a very polite person unless I need to be." She wore a grimace on her face as Shisui gained a mischievous smile on his own, yet he chose not to act on it.

Chose was a strong word, more so he had no choice as the bell rang, signalling class starting in a few minutes.

After-all. Honorifics were for people that deserved them, and seeing how Naruto had failed to save one fifth of humanity- she was not fit for them.

They bid each other farewell and made their way to their respective classrooms. It was only when Naruto caught sight of a crow that the name truly clicked.

He was Shisui Uchiha. Itachi Uchiha's closest friend, the man who first reported the coup d'état to the Sandaime, whose left eye was stolen by Danzo and who gave the left to Itachi then proceeding to jump into Naka River.

The same Shisui Uchiha whose eye currently was in her very own right socket.

_By the shodai could things get any more complicated?_


	7. Chapter 6

SEPTEMBER- 5 MONTHS

.

.

.

Naruto was once again bored. It was late at night and she was out for a walk. Jiraiya had been sent on a mission so she was supposed to be under the care of her beloved aniki, yet he was out training with Kakashi. She could have gone to Kushina but she was out for a mission. The last option was Kagami and Mikoto Uchiha, but she decided against going to either of their homes and instead went around the village.

After having been in Konoha for over two weeks now, she found she hated being coddled, hated being showered with affection by being Minato's little sister and hated when people treated her as a child.

She hated a lot of things, was the summary of things. In fact, had Sasuke come back in time with her, he would complain about how emo she was being.

She wondered around for about an hour before deciding to go and annoy the ANBU for a while. She could sense one of them following her so she looked back, directly at him and waved, causing the ANBU to blanch, not that she could see it, more so feel it.

Smiling, she made her way to where she had believed the ANBU were located and was thoroughly surprised when she saw the secret entrance was not there. She tried to sense for other people within, yet could not.

She mentally slapped herself when she realised what was wrong. Due to Kurama's attack the night of her birth, many buildings and such had been destroyed, including the ANBU hideout. She tried to rake her brain, she had read a document on where the ANBU had previously located, but found she couldn't remember.

She sighed as she dejectedly made her way back, but then thought to herself  _I'm Naruto Uzumaki Namizake! I never give up, dattebayo!_

She carried on looking around the village, feeling for chakra signatures that she thought were ANBU but had not yet been promoted.

She had been solely focused on looking for the ANBU she didn't feel the chakra signature of one madman, till he grasped her left shoulder, causing her to try and kick the person in the face, only for her foot to be caught.

Yellow silted eyes gleamed as they looked at her, "And what, pray tell, is a little girl such as yourself doing outside so late? There is a curfew for people so young."

She supressed a shiver and instead of answering his question she replied, "I would appreciate it if you would let go of me, or I'll scream paedophilia. People tend to take me very seriously."

He chucked and this time she was unable to hold back her shiver. She had never liked Orochimaru and never will. When he released her ankle she moved back a few steps, damning everyone in the village as she wasn't old enough to have a weapons pouch on her yet, "You didn't answer my question, little girl."

She shifted her feet as she replied, "I'm looking for the ANBU headquarters."

He released another chuckle causing her to move another step, back as his eyes gleamed even brighter with fascination.

It was never a good thing when Orochimaru was fascinated. It led to experiments. Lots and lots of experiments. Almost all the time being illegal.

"I wish you luck in doing so. And who might you be?"

 _Crap, not good. Not good at all._  "I'm uh… Naruto."

"And your last name?" he asked as he took in her appearance. It was very obvious who she was related to, by looking at her and by the rumours circulating the village.

"I'm not obligated to tell a complete stranger what my last name is. In fact, I'm not obligated to talk to you, dattebayo. So, bye." She turned to walk away when Orochimaru grabbed her by the wrist.

"Your features scream Namikaze yet that verbal tick of yours screams Uzumaki. Tell me your last name, girl." She cursed herself internally for her idiocy, yet reminded herself her verbal tick had no filter, much like her mother.

She was then saved by a very loud, "Naruto!" never in her life would Naruto have expected to be relieved by the presence of Obito, nor had she ever thought she would be saved by him. Even if at the end he had changed sides.

Obito was running up to her, Team Minato not far behind him. When they all reached her, Minato asked, "Orochimaru-sama. May I ask what you're doing with my sister?"

At his question the pedo-hebi released her, causing her to stand next to her brother, glaring at the sannin.

Minato looked back to her concerned before looking back to the sennin, "Merely asking some questions."

Naruto could feel him trying to look at her yet she adamantly refused to give him the pleasure. "And why is she so afraid? She isn't one to get scared so easily."

"Are you accusing me of something, Minato-kun?" there was an underlying hiss in his voice and Naruto would bet her sharingan eye he was glaring at him.

She tuned out the rest of their conversation as Obito had taken it upon himself to introduce her to Team Minato, "Naruto these are the last two members of my team. This is Rin Nohara and that's Kakashi Hatake." Naruto and Kakashi seemed thoroughly surprised by the simple way he introduced them yet did not allow it to disturb them.

Rin gave her a small smile whilst Kakashi simply scowled, "Guys, this is Minato sensei's little sister we've been telling you about, Naruto Namikaze."

She gave the two of them a small smile as well as a small wave, "It's a pleasure to meet you. Obito and aniki talk a lot about you." She offered, receiving a grunt from Kakashi, which in turn made Rin ask him to be more polite.

Kakashi and Naruto then proceeded to talk a staring contest, neither backing down, despite the confused looks Obito and Rin were giving them. They only stopped when Minato patted them on the back, quite hard, causing them to glare at the taller blonde.

"Naruto, what are you doing out so late?" he asked as he picked her up, placing her on his left shoulder, making her giggle.

"Ero-tousan is out the village and you were supposed to be looking after me but weren't home." She pouted at him, which caused his steps to falter as he looked guiltily at her.

"I'd forgotten I had to look after you tonight!" he looked clearly troubled for having forgotten so easily, "I'm a terrible brother. Sensei told me yesterday and today I was looking after you. Hell Kushina, told me before I left the house I was looking after you! Dammit! You're not hurt are you?"

Team Minato look stupefied at their sensei. Their own sensei had forgotten to look after his sister who was only five. "I don't think even Obito is that careless." Said Kakashi as he looked to the two blondes, the Uchiha releasing an indignant sound, denying what the Hatake had said about being careless.

"I'm fine…" she hesitated, not sure what Orochimaru had told him.

He sighed before asking, "It's pretty late. How comes you're not in bed."

"I was bored on my own so I decided to go for a walk." She shrugged her shoulders as they made their way through town.

"Aaaand said walk included looking for the ANBU headquarters?" asked Obito in a sing song voice. Looking down, she saw him grinning cheekily at her.

She gave a small glare before saying, "Well, there's always one following me, so why not annoy them?"

Everyone paused and looked at her, "How would you know if an ANBU was following you?" asked Kakashi, doubt lasing his voice.

"I will have you know, there is one not far from here. In fact the operative is right there." She pointed at the direction where the masked figure was hiding, behind some branches.

The operative shunshined over to where they were before saying, "Your sister has been doing that all week Minato. She has incredible sensory abilities." The male ANBU spoke, in a begrudging tone. Clearly annoyed that a five year old could sense him despite being a high ranked assassin.

Minato simply smiled sheepishly as his spare hand scratched the back of his neck, unsure on how to reply. He had no idea Naruto was even able to sense people around her, never mind be able to sense ANBU.

His happy demeanour changed, however, when he realised something, "Why were you following my sister? I wasn't told nor had I requested, that anyone protect her." He held back his KI, just barely, in hopes to not frighten his sister.

The masked man simply replied, clearly unfazed by the Namikaze, "Lord hokage wished for her to be watched to see what she gets up to. It's no use, however, since she is able to sense us and won't do anything if she's being watched."

Said person spoke up, "That's not necessarily true. I was looking for your HQ trying to annoy you guys just as much as your presence has been annoying me. But I seem to be looking in the wrong places. But don't you worry, I am the self-proclaimed queen of pranks. I will not be undone or deterred by anything."

"Big words, for a chibi." Grunted Kakashi causing Naruto to look down and glare.

"I dare you to say that again, teme!"

"Naruto! Language!" the exclamation of Minato did nothing to stop her from glaring at her old sensei. Gai and the others were not exaggerating when they said Kakashi had been far more emo than Sasuke had been. In fact, had Sasuke been here, he'd have complained at how moody Kakashi sensei was being.

She tried to compare and see similarities between this Kakashi and Kakashi sensei. Hers liked hentai, this one didn't. Hers smiled, this one glared. Hers had manner, this one was a teme.

She could find not a single trait in their personalities that were even remotely alike. In fact, the only thing that was similar was his appearance; gravity defying silver hair and the mask. Sure he had the same shade of eye colour but he had both eyes whereas her Kakashi had a sharingan eye which he covered. This Kakashi even carried around a tonto.

All in all, she like her Kakashi a lot better than the one in front of her right now. She wished she could somehow transfer her memories into him just so she wouldn't have to deal with this Kakashi before an evil idea came to her mind.

"Hey Kakashi… Wasn't your dad, like, hated by Sunagakure's elder, Lady Chiyo?" Naruto had originally learnt that fact from Lady Chiyo herself when they had gone to save Gaara from the Akatsuki. The lady had mistaken him for his late father and jumped him in a surprise attack.

Kakashi's eyes wided, yet before he could say anything, her precious aniki did, "Naruto. Do I need to tell Jiraiya sensei to stop telling you things? It isn't nice to bring up ones dead parents."

Nodding her head, she agreed, "Yes, quite. I wonder what is worse though. A father who faced the fate of the White Fang, or a father giving away his daughter to a complete stranger, knowing he is a shinobi, the one thing the father hates to most. Or my personal favourite, making the daughter the container of something she never wanted to be in the first place." She shut up and placed a hand over her mouth when she realised what she had just said.

_Now I've done it._

If Kurama was awake, he would berate her further, but he wasn't.

Minato's aura changed drastically that Naruto gasped and clutched her chest at the sudden onslaught on emotion that coursed through her via her father.

Anger, betrayal, hate and anguish coursed through her as she fell off of Minato's shoulder and into a set of arms. Whose she couldn't focus on, all she could focus on was how the air became dense. Nature herself had changed as well. It shouldn't have been such a surprise to her, really, he was a sennin of Mount Myoboku as, natures energy flowed through him as it did her.

"Aniki… cut it out." She gasped out, trying not to allow the pain to take over as black dots shrouded her vision. She was very relieved when Minato calmed down, sighing in relief as he did so.

Naruto had never been able to handle mood swings, yet never had someone's sudden change of moods affect her so badly. She could only assume it was due to their bond of family and through the gama's of Mount Myoboku.

She tilted her head to see she had landed in the warm arms of Obito, causing her to suddenly feel much tiered. She tried to supress the urge, yet felt she could not. After a few moments of trying to stay away she decided to screw it and allow herself to fall asleep in the Uchiha's arms.

.

.

.

Minato thought himself to be a very patient man. He was very used to many things; Kushinas energy, Obito's continuous tardiness, Kakashi's emo behaviour, Rin's fangirl tendencies, and most of all, Jiraiya sensei's  _terrible_ habit.

He had never allowed his students to see any more than a happy, joyous blonde sensei that had too much coffee in the morning.

But at this moment in time, he could not stop the onslaught of emotions that coursed through his veins, igniting a fire within his very soul.

He didn't feel when Naruto slipped off his shoulder, he didn't care much for the gasps that came from his team, including Kakashi. He didn't register the pain his sister was in.

All he could think about, was the bastard that was his father.

Minato had known from the beginning that his father wasn't worth any of his time, but now… he begged to differ.

His father was worth it. Had the man not already been dead he would have sought him out himself and beat him an inch to death, over and over.

How could a man abandon one child, to father another? Only for his to abandon the second child to a shinobi, a type of person he hated with a vengeance. The icing on the cake was he had made his own child a jinchuriki.

Forced his child to bare the title of demon container for the rest of her life, even if she did have Uzumaki blood, she would die not long after an extraction.

The anger and hate he felt for his father was suddenly changed and redirected. Instead he felt betrayal and anguish. Jiraiya had not told Minato his sister was a jinchuriki, he could have helped. Kushina could have helped. He would have to have a long talk with his sensei later, in order to understand the reasons his sensei must have had to have hidden this from him.

"Aniki… cut it out." He heard his younger sister gasp out so he looked at her and saw she was being held by Obito, in clear signs of pain.

He bottled up what he was feeling and went to touch her when she completely passed out, yet Obito took an unconscious step back the ANBU spoke up, "I think it's best if you don't touch her, Minato. As I said earlier, she has great sensory abilities and your sudden outburst seems to have caused an overload to her. Adult emotions are not meant to be felt by five year olds." With that, the ANBU saluted and went back into the shadows yet he paid no further attention to him.

Minato stood conflicted. He was the cause of his sister's current predicament but until he calmed down, mentally, he couldn't touch her.

Sighing he gestured for his team to follow him as they made their way to his apartment. Once there he sent a toad out to summon Jiraiya to his home as his team members left; kakashi first and then Rin. It took some convincing to get Obito to leave.

During the two weeks he had known his sister for, the boy had grown a strong friendship with the young blonde, yet she did not feel the same sentiment. In fact, she seemed rather cautious of the Uchiha, for what reason he didn't know.

Obito and Naruto had a lot in common, yet she was also similar to Kakashi, minus the sour mood he was always in.

Naruto had been placed in the guest bedroom he had been trying to make into her own, he had seen Kushina do the same thing in her apartment as well as Kagami in his home. Although the latter had yet to actually meet the girl, he wished to be prepared for a time he would have to look after her.

A knock at his door brought him out of thought as he made his way to answer it, not bothering to sense who it was, and was very much surprised to see it was his sensei. Jiraiya had a tendency to use the window or any other unorthodox means of entry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I left this chapter off somewhere very odd but I don't want to cut their conversation off half way through so... yeah. Next chapter will be about this conversation and then Jiraiya doing something about her boredom. Till next time! :)


	8. Chapter 7

NOVEMBER- 7 MONTHS

.

.

.

Jiraiya, to say the least, was very confused as to why his student would summon him via toad the moment he entered the village. Minato must have known he had just come back from his mission.

He made his way over to Minato's apartment, mindful of the time as he had yet to report to Sarutobi sensei.

Orochimaru and he had to go collect a scroll from the fire daimyo and to stay on the frontlines to help them in any way they could. The journey for the average shinobi would have been a day there and back, yet it had taken the two sennin less than the allocated time. They had a few run in's with nuke-nin, but they posed no threat.

In fact, Orochimaru was the greatest threat once they had arrived. He was a very meticulous man and did not appreciate their ambush and had made quick yet painful work of them.

Both men had been uninjured and Jiraiya had been silently miffed he had not caught sight of Tsunade. Naruto had told him where she had been, but that did not stop him from hoping to bring the woman he loved back to the village.

He, in his own debatable opinion, was not insane. He knew she had never loved him like she had Dan, yet at the same time, there was a small part of her that had.

He did not ask Naruto what Tsunade had been like when he had died in her time. Far too afraid to hear she hadn't been sad. Too afraid to acknowledge she had felt nothing for him.

Sighing, he knocked on the door, too tired to go through the window. Without fail, Minato answered the door and looked briefly shocked, clearly he hadn't expected Jiraiya to use the door over the window.

After a few seconds Minato had still not recovered so he spoke first, "I have had a very busy day Minato. Could you tell me what's bothering you so I can go home? If Naruto's awake, I'll take her with me." As soon as the sennin spoke the name of the blonde male's sister, his posture grew rigid and his face, shadowed a cold yet fiery look.

Instead of speaking, Minato opened the door and gestured for Jiraiya to sit down, which he cautiously did. Jiraiya showed no outward look of distress or worry yet he felt both, wondering what had caused his student to react like this. He guessed it had to do with Naruto but was unsure as to what it was.

Minato stood directly across Jiaraiya, on the opposite side of the coffee table which was littered with scrolls, ink and cups.

"Why didn't you tell me that bastard made her a jinchuriki?" he asked, no emotion showing on his face yet Jiariya was a sage. He could feel the rage Minato was feeling as if it were his own.

It took Jiraiya a few seconds for him to register what Minato had said. "What makes you think she is?" he asked, unsure if Minato was speculating or informing.

He crossed his arms over his chest yet Jiraiya saw the way Minato's hands were fisted, not liking the way Jiraiya was handling the situation. "She let it loose earlier that she was made into the host of something. My students had no idea what she was going on about but I know. I know what a jinchuriki is and the toll it takes on someone."

He paused waiting for Jiraiya to say something in his defence yet when the sennin said none, he continued. "How could you think it was alright for this to be kept from me?! From Kushina! Both of us are fuinjutsu mast-"

Jiraiya cut his sentence off, a small glare on his face as he looked to his student, "And if I told you, what would you have done? Don't answer that. You would examine her seal, keep a watch on her behaviour, see how she settles, observe how she behaves, teach her the ways of a jinchuriki and thereby robbing her of the childhood she so deserves. I will not have you, nor Kushina, do that Minato. She is a child, and even if she acts like she is older, I will not have her treated in a way I don't see fit for someone her age. So don't make me the bad one in saying I've done you a wrong when I haven't.

"You may be family by blood, but she is more my family than she is yours. Family doesn't end in blood, Minato." Jiraiya was quite shocked by his speech and so apparently was Minato. It wasn't very often he said anything out of a cool and laidback manner yet this conversation peeked his annoyance. He didn't like the way Minato made him out to be the one who had wronged them all. It was no one's fault.

It was very ironic. Here Minato stood calling his father a bastard for sealing a biju inside his 'sister', yet he had no problem sealing the nine tails into his own daughter.

Naruto had lived a harsh life because of the decisions Minato had made. Jiraiya would be damned before he allowed Naruto to live a life like the one she had had the first time.

He may have been stopped from taking in his goddaughter, yet no one could tell him what to do with his daughter. Not even her 'brother'.

Minato looked conflicted, unsure what to say next. He opened and closed his mouth, single words coming out yet no sentence came. He seemed at a loss for words.

Finally after what felt like an eternity he sighed, head lowered with his bangs shadowing his eyes, "I don't know what to do sensei. The brother part of me wants the same as you do for her, yet the shinobi in me that is a fuinjutsu master wants to check her the way a jinchuriki is checked, to observe her like I have been informed Kushina had…"

"She's - I've not told sensei she's a jinchuriki and I intend to keep it that way for some time. She doesn't do anything that ascertains to her being one so no one should suspect. However if you go about it the way you think a shinobi would, you'll put her into a lot of trouble. She'll be removed from my care and placed into an orphanage. So don't say a word." His tone of voice and facial expression told Minato to obey no matter what.

Jiraiya knew he was asking a lot from his student, yet at the same time he wasn't. This would be the recompense for what he did, or will do, to Naruto.

Minato finally took a seat on the armchair and sighed, running his hand through his hair and tugged a few locks of his hair. "Very well… sensei. But know I don't appreciate not knowing this sort of thing about my own sister… Can I at least know which one she is the jinchuriki of?"

He looked Jiraiya in the eye and had the sennin been a lesser man he would have caved under the forlorn eyes Minato was giving, "No. The less you know, the less likely you are to get in trouble if word got out."

Minato looked as if to protest yet held it back, knowing Jiraiya was right and as stubborn as Kushina.

Jiraiya went home not long after, having checked on Naruto and saw she really was asleep, not wanting to wake her up. He informed minato he would come after breakfast to pick her up and take her to the academy.

.

.

.

FEBRUARY- 10 MONTHS-

..-..

Naruto was very unhinged one day when in the middle of class she had been summoned to the main office to have a meeting with the headmaster.

She stood in a room with many shinobi and kunoichi, all chunin or above. She caught a glimpse of Orochimaru's eyes in the back of the room, hidden in shadows yet chose to ignore him.

She also saw an Uchiha she often saw, Shikaku Nara and Inoichi Yamanaka, the latter two often seeking out her brother which often resulted in either them joining for food or a shorter training session.

When she had first laid eyes on them, she felt a chorus of emotions run through her. These men had given their lives for 'the greater good' during the first war, neither flinching nor allowing death to make them cower.

In their occupation death was common and expected, but it was another thing to know you would die within minutes. Shikaku had given those on the frontlines advice and Inoichi had transmitted it.

She didn't allow any of her emotions to show. In fact, when she first saw Shikaku she had thought it was Shikamaru, the resemblance between the two was truly uncanny especially since his face was unscarred.

The headmaster and her homeroom teacher were also there, as well as the teacher for the class Iruka sensei was a part of.

Everyone looked directly at her causing her to shift on her feet, she had never been one for being stared at despite always seeking everyone's attention as a child.

"Naruto… It's been petitioned by lord Jiraiya, Minato, Shikaku, your sensei and several other people that you be moved up a year. I wholeheartedly agree, you are a very bright child whose intellect is on par with your own brother. Truthfully, we would give you a test and make you a genin if it hadn't been for the simple fact that physically you are not on par with other genin, and that would essentially kill you. This form-" he raised a document and faced it towards herself and she managed to make out signatures, "has been signed by everyone in this room as well as your brother and adoptive father. If you agree to move up a year, you would have to sign this. Everything else has been taken care of. Of course, should you choose to stay in your year you will be given the option to move up whenever you wish, on the condition that you take an exam. What will you do?" he placed the paper back down on the desk and folded his hands in a similar manner that the sandaime does.

Naruto knew what she would choose, to move up a year. Whilst the theoretic side would bore her slightly, the practical side would keep her up to par with her plans. Training in her own time or when she was taken out of school by minato or jiraiya would not be enough. Yet she dreaded how fatigued she would be at the end of the day.

One would think that being an Uzumaki would give her a lot of stamina, and it did. Just not to the extent of what Naruto was doing to her six year old body.

"I'd like to go up a year." She stated, trying to hide her nervousness, reminding herself that she would have to get up the ranks quicker in order to change all the bad that had happened.

The headmaster nodded and handed her the paper and a pen in order to sign. Fifteen minutes later she was all set and stood outside the door to her new class with her ex homeroom teacher with her.

Whilst her new class was still boring but there were certain people who she recognised; Hayate from the chunin exams, Mizuki the traitor, Doto from the Akimichi clan and her personal favourite Iruka sensei. Overall, everyone varied with their age.

Iruka sat two rows in front of her and as soon as the break alarm sounded, they immediately hit it off. It seemed he was very much like how she had been as a child; a loudmouthed troublemaker.

Placing two loudmouthed troublemakers together was not a wise idea, the only difference between the two of them was that Naruto was able to control herself, much to her classmates and teachers relief.

There was one other person in the class she had previously been trying her hardest to discreetly avoid, yet could no longer do so.

Shisui no shunshin was sitting  _right in front of her_. She had been trying to avoid him because for whatever reason, her eye which was actually Shisui's left eye, kept trying to activate.

It made very little sense and a lot of control from Naruto to stop it from activating and having to answer many unnecessary questions. Every time she within a certain radius of the Uchiha, her left eye would burn and the kekkei-genkai would want to activate. There had been several times where it had and she managed to play it off by closing it and pretending there was something inside it. So in the end, she made a short fringe over the eye which reached till her nose.

When she had been questioned about her sudden change of appearance to Minato, Jiraiya had taken to saying she suffered from some sort of eye disease when in contact with too much pollen **. (A/N Not hay fever but similar.)**

Her new homeroom teacher had also questioned her new look and had asked her to change it back, however a quick visit by Jiraiya and Minato had made his mouth shut.

She was sure some sort of rumours about favouritism and such were circulating the academy yet she couldn't care less. In her own time, far worse rumours had been spread. These children weren't nearly as creatively brutal with their choice of words.

Of course, due to her eye, she had made sure to talk very little to the boy sitting next to her, which she found wasn't quite easy when he seemed to be very jovial.

Naruto seemed to run into quite a few Uchiha with that personality and often wondered where they had all been before the massacre, since she couldn't remember any Uchiha being lively and smiling carefree. Unless it was Itachi dying by his brother's hands, in which case she had seen an Uchiha smile.

She had also seen Sasuke smile, 93% of the time his smile was in fact either a smirk or a cruel and sadistic smile that made one stiffen and shiver at the same time. In her time, only Kakashi had been able to ignore that smile.

Another thing she didn't like was how the teacher liked to pick her constantly when she wasn't paying attention. No matter how many times she was able to answer with essay like answers, he never seemed to learn and seemed to be waiting for the day in which she wouldn't know the answer.

That day would never come, however, as she had learnt a lot about the previous kage during the war and the laws, current and old for her kage training that Tsunade had put her through.

She had learnt about the five nations during her two year training trip with Jiraiya and about clans from Sasuke before he had defected. Once he had Jiraiya had taken over and the clan members of the rookie nine had filled in any gaps that were remaining.

Overall, she had had many people teach her several things that this man, whom she believed dies sometime during the war, could only dream of knowing.

The only useful thing she was gaining from the academy was even more training than what her guardians were giving her.

Her muscle memory was absolutely useless since she had such short and weak limbs which she couldn't do much about without damaging her growth.

The one thing she was getting better at was throwing her kunai and shuriken, before they would land several meters from the target, and now they could hit the rings. Whilst it wasn't perfect, it was clear progress and Naruto wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth.

All in all, the academy was okay but could be better, yet she couldn't do anything about it. She had to be a big girl about it, as Jiraiya liked to say. It wasn't until group projects ensued that she knew she was screwed.

The project was to be placed in groups of two for a survival plan. Each group were given a scenario and they would have to make a plan of the various ways out of it, then select one of those to present to the class. Your partner was the person sitting next to you.

The second project was to make a timeline of Konoha from as far back as they could research. It had to include the three hokage and Madara Uchiha's timeline. Naruto felt this one would be easier than the first. Despite everything she was still not very good at strategy. Again the person next to you was your partner.

The third and last project was to stay in the home of the other partner for twenty-four hours. The catch on this one was, the guardian was not allowed to know you were there. There was some leeway, allowing you to be found three times, however each time you were caught, ten marks would be deducted from the overall test. Once again the partner was the person sitting next to you.

Naruto was dreading all of these as they required her to spend lots of time with the Uchiha and thereby lots of eye gauging pain to resonate from within her very skull. She was very much looking forward to the day Kurama woke up in order for him to advise her like he always did.

It made her realise how much she relied on the fox and made her appreciate how he always did so. Never again would she take the fox for granted.

Both partners had agreed that Naruto would try to hide in Shisui's house since everyone at her home had some form of high sensory abilities and he would be at a great disadvantage. However they would do that on Sunday and they would start their other two projects of Saturday. They would then do a section of each project on their own and compile them together and finish the last of them during the lunch break of the next Wednesday.

They did have two weeks to complete their assignments, but there was a class field trip the following week that was for three days on the outskirts of the village. She assumed they would try to be quick about it as Konoha was on the brink of the third war.

They were currently walking over to hers and Jiraiya's home and as soon as they walked in, a kunai flew to them, causing Naruto to unconsciously activate Kurama's shield.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyone get the quote I've added in? If so, comment it down below and kudos to you! On a different note, thank-you to everyone who has read this story so far on this site and the other. It means a lot that people take time to read this!  
> :)


	9. Chapter 8

It had been an automated response that had caused her to activate the shield and she would have cursed her survival instincts. Granted, the kunai melted away but due to the sudden rush of chakra to her small untrained body, Kurama's charka was corrosive.

Her skin burnt her flesh till you could see the pinkish red muscles beneath. She fell onto her side, restraining herself from crying out from the feel of her flesh being burnt and repaired. Kurama had finally awoke and whilst she was should feel happy he was trying to protect her, he had simply caused her further pain.

Kurama's chakra had not had this effect on her since before the fourth war which had been nearly 4 years before she had been sent to the past.

Every nerve in her body was sent alight as a sudden gust of wind from the open door blew over her open muscles, causing another bout of pain across her body.

Without her bidding tears leaked out of her eyes onto the floor, vaguely she could hear Jiraiya asking her questions as he simultaneously yelled at her brother and another person who was in her home who she couldn't figure out who.

Deciding she needed to distract herself in order for her to not feel the pain, she tried to figure out who might have been there. Since it was late in the afternoon it would either be Kushina or Kakashi, he seemed to enjoy stalking her brother when team Minato wasn't around.

However seeing as Kushina had been dispatched for a mission for nearly a week and wasn't due for another day or so, so it had to be Kakashi.

The distraction had not taken long for her to deduce causing her to refocus on the matter at hand. Apparently Jiraiya was using what little knowledge he knew on inryo ninjutsu yet it wasn't necessary, within a few moments she was feeling a lot better.

Slowly she unscrewed her eyes as she sucked in large gulps of breath. After breathing in and out several times she got up, one arm behind her to support herself, the other clutching her head as she scanned the room and her audience with screwed up eyes.

Minato, Jiraiya, Kakashi, Shisui and apparently Obito were all in the room staring wide eyed at the girl on the ground. She hadn't been able to sense the boy till now yet she blamed that fact on her pain and not because he was able to outsmart her. This was not the Obito Uchiha who had started a great war because of a dead girl he had loved.

She chose not to say anything as Kurama had yet to heal her vocal cords. She made a mental note to thank him and curse at him at the same time. The thought reminded her of what Sakura had once said, that Naruto had a tendency to act like a loveable tsundere at times with the guys she met. When she had asked the pink haired female which males she had acted like that with she had not specified.

Minato and Jiraiya were saying something but her ears hadn't been healed yet either so she had to look at their lips, making a gesture that she couldn't hear and to slow their talking. Minato was talking way too fast for her to read.

Once he had understood her he repeated what he said, "What happened Naruto? What was that orange light that surrounded you?"

"That was… the extra chakra I have inside me. It works as a defence mechanism at times but since I can't use my own chakra, it burns my skin. But it doesn't pose a threat if I use it when I've trained-"

"And how do you know that?! You can't possibly know that Naruto! If the chakra is that- that corrosive you shouldn't use it! Ever! Sensei! I shouldn't have listened!" minato didn't get a chance to state what he shouldn't have listened to Jiraiya on as a blur of orangish red hit Minato over the head.

All eyes followed where the tail came from which made them look to Naruto who had just noticed she had 7 tails out. She mentally praised Kurama for that, the seven tails, Choumei belonged to Takigakure where she had told everyone she had been for over a year. It made sense if Minato fathers had been there, he travelled a lot after-all.

Kurama receded the tail and she spoke, "You have no right to judge them. None of them chose to caged. How would you like it if you were a being a chakra, capable of levelling mountains and forced to be locked away into a person that can barely fit in with its people? I don't think you'd like it very much. So stop with your judgements. If a person acts kind to someone hated for so long… Kushina would have so much better luck with hers if she didn't treat him like an animal."

This was what she always hated, when someone judged the nine bijuu when they had done no wrong. They killed the humans that tried to kill them. They were no different to humans. The only difference was shinobi killed for a price, they did not. When you look at it in that retrospective, humans were worse.

The bijuu had loved the sage of six paths, a human, and had expected to be loved by others like him. At first that was the case, but then they became feared for their strength and power which was then sought out to be controlled and harvested for man kinds own selfish desires.

Her mother had caged and chained Kurama up, where as her father spilt him into two different parts, half in herself and half in himself and thereby with the Shinigami. He had no right.

"Naruto… they are capable of levelling mountains, driving men to insanity-"

She had finally managed to get up and glare at him fully, once again irritated by her short stature, "And how is that any different to us? Lady Tsunade can crush a mountain with her bare hands and the ANBU black ops are more than capable of driving a person to insanity! The only difference is we choose not to understand them and instead choose to fear them. We have robbed them of their freedom and rights when we fight for our own…" she faded off when she saw she wasn't getting anywhere with him.

All he knew about bijuu were what he had been told by others who didn't understand. The shodaime should never have interfered with the bijuu, if he hadn't they wouldn't be in this mess.

She looked around and saw a very confused Kakashi, Obito and Shisui. Jiraiya had an impassive look ghosting his face as he took in their conversation. Naruto had never discussed the nine bijuu this passionately before with him around and she could almost hear the clogs turning in his mind as he processed and pieced together all the wrongs that had been committed.

Sighing she raked a hand through her hair and spoke to Jiraiya, "I came here with Shisui over here. He sits in front of me in class. We've got three projects to do together. We're supposed to be paired with the person next to us but we sit in three's, so the person on the right gets paired with the person on the left of the previous row where it works.

"Tomorrow I'll be working with Shisui on the first two projects, finishing it off at home and Sunday I'll be hiding at his house, trying to not be sensed by Kagami-san. We'd have done it here, but since everyone in my family is a sensor that isn't fair."

Jiraiya picked her up on his shoulder as he ruffled Shisui's hair, gesturing for him to take a seat on the sofa next to where the other two boys were standing.

Minato said something to the two boys when she hadn't been paying attention and had left them in the care of Jiraiya.

Apparently Jiraiya had promised to look after the two of them as Rin spent time with her clan. Naruto would be joining them after they decided what to do with Shisui since Kagami had also been dispatched on a mission and wouldn't be back till the next morning.

After some tea and change of clothes they decided to allow Shisui to train with them, causing Naruto's eye to unconsciously twitch and thereby glare at Jiraiya for agreeing. Not that she blamed him, it made sense that he would look after Shisui since the boy's father had agreed to look after her should a situation like that arise.

Not long after that the five of them made their way to do some training, Naruto getting a better insight on where exactly Kakashi was currently in his training. She saw where Obito was almost every night as he trained with her and whoever was teaching her at the time, and on the odd occasion she decides to train on her own as well.

Watching everyone train and work hard together bought a smile on her face. During the war and after it she had been unable to imagine Obito and Kakashi sensei being anything like her and Sasuke, but they truly were.

Yet it seemed as if they were getting along a lot better since she had arrived as Obito had started to train even more than he had before as well as having taken to helping her study on things she really didn't need help with. She feigned ignorance for him though as he seemed to want to study the materials properly and she was making the task easier.

She wondered what this change would bring. Would Kakashi and Obito get along as they had towards the end of the fourth Great War, or would their friendship turn into pure hate and destruction once again?

Even if Naruto intended to fix things, there was no guarantee that she would be able to do anything and there was only so much she could ask Jiraiya to do on her behalf.

So far, he had gone to Ame and found his students, all three healthy and alive. He had given the message she had requested he give to them and she prayed that Nagato and Yahiko had heeded the advice.

If Yahiko never dies, then Nagato never goes crazy, meaning he would never resort to using Madara's ideals of peace, thereby leading to no war. However that was debatable, if Obito saw Kakashi kill Rin there was still the possibility that he would start the fourth war.

Her best bet was removing Madara from the scene entirely yet that would not end the cycle. She would have to get rid of black Zetsu in order or peace to finally reign eternal.

As she watched Shisui training however her vision changed into the Shisui Uchiha she had seen on the odd three occasion however on none of them did he see her.

He had been training and once he had been with Itachi. The boy was incredible and Naruto would wager that if he had been alive and if Danzo wasn't the war hawk she knew him to be then a lot of pain would never had ensued.

Her plan for Danzo was a simple and slightly flawed one, she planned on poisoning him and leaving a fake suicide note. Homura abd Koharu were old idiots in Naruto's mind but they truly thought on Konoha's welfare outside of war and in it, yet all Danzo had been able to see was war.

The most fatal flaw in her plan would be how to get past all of his ROOT operatives and why he would kill himself. She would prefer doing it soon as to prevent him from causing trouble in Ame yet she would have to further strategize, an area she often left the Shikamaru to do. She doubted Shukaku would be willing to help kill the man even if he was a war hawk that deserved death for his crimes.

.

.

.

Hiruzen looked down at the reports in front of him then back to the ANBU operative kneeling before him.

Naruto Namikaze seemed to have very sharp sensory abilities which were causing him large bouts of grief. How was he supposed to tell if she bode a threat to his people if she knew she was being watched?

No one acted like a criminal whilst under the scrutinise eyes of the law. However, despite being watched by the ANBU she didn't mind pulling the occasional prank which miffed the guards as they had barely seen her commit the felony they were almost certain she had committed.

Alas, there was never any viable evidence that she was the source behind such deeds and that was why she had not been summoned to the kage office.

The sandaime sighed as he gestured to the ANBU to leave him, and not a moment later they left via leaf shunshin. Not a very discreet method to leave in his own opinion, but it hardly seemed to matter to the latest generation.

As well as reading over the reports on Minato's sister he was also reading over the reports on the latest academy graduates: Might Gai, Genma, Ebisu, Kakashi Hatake, Rin Nohara, Obito Uchiha, Ibiki Morino, Asuma Sarutobi, Kurenai Yuuhi and Anko Mitarashi.

They had all so far shown good comradery, on missions at the very least, and had improved their ninja skills quite well in the last year. Obito Uchiha seemed to have shown the most results in skill where Kakashi seemed to haggle the Uchiha far less as well. Orochimaru's student, Anko, seemed to be excelling in comparison to the rest of her peers.

Hiruzen once again sighed at Orochimaru's use of the bell test, using it to berid of the other two members of his team was cold and meticulous of him, yet he had the right since they were not ready.

He decided to skim through rather than thoroughly read them as he would receive a final report within a week's time on how they progressed, where they improved and what needs improving on. This would correlate perfectly to the chunin exams which was another of his concerns.

The alliance between the five nations was teetering and Hiruzen was at a loss on what should be done. In his life, he had participated in 2 wars, one which he had led. To have a third in his name would be the final kunai. How could he claim to be a good leader when he keeps sending his people to die in the frontlines?

The second war had barely ended five years ago, and even then, his people were not fully recovered. He doubted any of the other nations would be in a better shape than Konoha…

As Jiraiya and his old team had suggested, he would send word to the other kage on reinforcing their alliances. Suna and Kiri were most likely to form a stronger bond as they didn't have Onoki nor the hatred of the current raikage. Suna and Kiri had the most to gain from Konoha as well.

Better trade, supplies and outside alliances had been made by Konoha as the founder of the hidden villages. Techniques outside of clan techniquies could be taught in exchange between them also.

Jiraiya had also mentioned doing a teacher exchange programme where they would swap jonin and chunin instructors to teach in the other nation. This would allow the children to be taught in the ways of another nation, giving better insight to infiltration missions and such.

He wrote the letters with vague details and requested they write back as soon as they could. He wrote the letter to Iwa and Kumo yet he doubted he would receive a reply from them.

The shodaime had managed over twenty years of peace during his reign as hokage, Hiruzen would strive to make his reign of peace last a long time. Even if the time was not the same length as his teachers.

Just as he thought he could leave, an ANBU operative came in, slightly short winded by the journey here he assumed. Yet when he saw the operatives mask to be a person in charge of watching Minato's sister, his back straightened further as he awaited the inevitable bad news that would ensue.

"Earlier today; Naruto Namikaze and Shisui Uchiha went to the home of Lord Jiraiya straight afterschool when a kunai accidently made its way over to the two children once they had taken off their shoes. When the kunai was a meter away from Namikaze she released a large amount of orange chakra which burnt her very skin.

"She fell to the ground in pain and the elders rushed to help as they youngsters were frozen. Lord Jiraiya used simple inryo ninjutsu to heal her and by a minutes time she had completely healed. There were no signs that she had been burnt.

"Minato and Lord Jiraiya got into an argument of them having not said something to you when seven tails came from behind Naruto, one hitting Minato over the head. Once the tail had receded the two got into a heated argument about bijuu and their comparisons to humans, Naruto stating they were misunderstood and Minato stating that they had done nothing to deserve a human's trust.

"Once Minato left, another operative came to take my place and I left to report this to you at once, Sandaime."

Hiruzen had not interrupted the operative and he sat confounded by what he had been told. The implication that Jiraiya had bought a jinchuriki in the body of Minato's little sister into the village without telling his leader was somewhat understandable. Jiraiya had had to watch the way Kushina grew up during her time in Konoha and she had had it bad enough being an outsider.

If anyone would have found out she was a jinchuriki she would have had it far worse. It did not however means he and Minato would go unpunished. Minato, even if the girl was his sister, had no right to keep this sort of information from him and he sent a messenger to fetch the elder Namikaze. He would have requested for Jiraiya to also be bought if he didn't know the man was looking after several children today.

Not long after he had sent the messenger did Minato come through the door, clearly having come here not by the word of the messenger.

Hiruzen gestured for Minato to sit down as he prepared himself for another long night.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is actually in two parts and I’ll release the second part soon hopefully, it may be shorter than usual or may be usual size.  
> Basically here Naruto told Jiraiya what to suggest to the sandaime, these were similar to the regulations she made when she made hokage.  
> I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and feel free to ask anything you want to ask.


	10. Chapter 9

Minato stood before his hokage with the assertiveness that came with having fought in a war. He would take responsibility for not having told his leader the truth, however by the looks of it someone had already informed him of what had transpired at Jiraiya's home.

Minato was not cruel, in the short time he had known Naruto for he had loved her. He had loved her from the moment he had heard he had a sister. When he met her it was as if he could breathe easily. He had never known he was alone yet as he first gazed at his sister, he realised how lonely he truly was.

She was his sister, his family, his blood yet she had this stubbornness that would surely be the end of her one day.

He had to make sure that she lived, no matter if it meant betraying her trust forever. He'd rather be hated for being himself than to be loved whilst living a lie.

He also had a duty he had not completed by withholding information from his leader about her. He had been blinded at first yet this episode had been the final straw. He would not allow the beast within her to be the cause of her death. He would sacrifice himself before he ever allowed his only family to die.

When he had seen the bright chakra form around his sister, his initial reaction was shock. However when she fell to the ground, gasping in pain, skin burnt and rapidly healing he had known he made a mistake. He could have stopped her pain before it had ever happened.

He had allowed Jiraiya sensei to delude him into a false sense of safety, yet could not hold much blame to him.

This was where his emotions clashed; on one part he was angered that his sensei would put his own kin at risk but the other part understood why he had done so. To take the bijuu out of her would surely sign her death certificate however that didn't mean he couldn't fix her seal.

"Minato. I just sent a messenger to get you." He raised his hands to place silencing seals around the room as he dismissed the ANBU in the room.

"The previous week Naruto let it slip she was a jinchuriki so the next night I had confronted Jiraiya sensei about it and he confirmed she was indeed a jinchuriki. He told me I had no right to judge her or make her feel like a monster that constantly needed watching. He reminded me of the life Kushina had lived when she arrived as a foreigner, and had anyone been informed of what she held, her treatment would have been much worse.

"I didn't want that life for her. However, that is no excuse for my negligence of informing you. Neither of them had said what she was jinchuriki to, however today I caught a glimpse of seven tails protruding from Naruto. She subconsciously released a sudden burst of its chakra and it covered her whole body when a kunai came her way. The chakra was very corrosive and burnt her skin. She healed moments later and got into an argument with me, saying the bijuu were misunderstood and no different from people. She gave examples.

"She also knew Kushina held a bijuu, though she didn't specifically say which one, I figure she knows. She seemed to be defending all nine of them…" he was unsure what else he had to say.

Minato had always been on point when telling the sandaime anything he needed to be debriefed on, however this went into his personal life and was not a mission report. It was his informing his leader that his sister contained a demon inside of her.

"I understand that this isn't very easy for you, Minato. However, you and Jiraiya will have to face the consequences of keeping such vital information from me. As she is family to the both of you I will be lenient, however should this occur again, a more severe punishment will have to done. As Jiraiya and yourself will be needed outside of Konoha often, both of you will rotate shifts on night guard duty. For now that is all. I will have the same talk with Jiraiya. You are dismissed."

As Minato left, a rock fell into his stomach, metaphorically. His throat clogged and he felt as if he had committed a sin instead of relieving himself of one.

Telling the truth should have made things better, little did he know it would do the opposite.

.

.

.

Naruto watched as the two rivals sparred, it was sight to be held. Obito fought with everything he had yet Kakashi was making quick work of any attack coming his way. She expected nothing less of the boy who made chunin at six.

Both of their fighting styles were very different to the styles they used in the future so she watched the two spar religiously. If she ever had to go against them in either a friendly spar or battle she shouldn't expect the attack future them would dish out but the one they were capable of.

It was ultimately a different type of spar compared to the ones they would fight during the fourth war, when both had been in their prime and had mastered the art of the styles they used. She felt her heart ache at the thought of what pain Kakashi-sensei must had gone through with the thought that they were no longer sparring- but fighting to the death.

Kakashi moved his hair out of his eye causing hers to twitch. Future Kakashi had the common sense to place that hair  _out_  of his headband and not under it. She would have to rectify her child sensei's hair do as well as his mannerism and attitude to his teammates.

Her list seemed to be growing and growing yet she wasn't getting anywhere. As it was she could barely summon her chakra on her free will. Her only consolation was she could tree jump with chakra but tree walking was out of the question. She had tried and ended up blowing the tree up as well as hurt her feet to a degree- yet she somehow managed to water walk.

Shisui was practicing shuriken throwing and granted she should take in his footsteps yet instead decided to meditate and focus on her chakra.

Crossing her legs, she closed her eyes and placed her fingers back to back. Breathing slowly she felt for her chakra. It wasn't easy, in this form her chakra was hidden so at first all she could feel was natures energy, but decided against going anywhere near it before she could handle her own. She could somehow feel Kakashi's and Jiraiya's chakra which irritated her, yet she forced herself to try again.

One would think with her large chakra reserves she would find it easier to locate, but for some reason she had been struggling to do so. She had borrowed a book from Jiraiya about chakra locating and found a chapter on how different people found their chakra in different ways.

He had asked why she didn't already know this and gave him a bland look, her teachers hadn't been the most informative when it came to teaching the kyuubi brat, minus Iruka sensei and Kakashi sensei, the latter was simply lazy but he had taught her the things she would never forget; 'those who break the rules are scum, but those who abandon their friends are worse than scum.'

After the war she had learnt Obito had been the one to say that to him, yet she had a hard time believing it. However now she could easily believe him.

She focused back on her chakra, thinking of the colour, scent or taste of it. Thinking of the colour made a large difference as she located Kurama's chakra surrounding her own as if protecting it, or caging, it could go either way with him.

Kurama's orange chakra had taken the form of nine tails encompassing hers. She didn't like how her chakra was blue, she much preferred when it came out to be orange or yellow. Deciding there was nothing much she could do about it she focused on reaching it yet was abruptly shaken out of her meditation.

Literally.

Kakashi, Obito and Shisui seemed to be shaking her, hitting her head and poking her. Glaring at all of them she waved her hands to fend them off her.

"What was all that for?!" she stood up, wiping her mud off her trousers as she continued to glare at them.

Obito pointed to where she was sitting, the grass had grown considerably whereas Kakashi pointed to the trees which had grown leaves, in the middle of autumn and Shisui pointed to some plants that were a few meters from them which had also grown.

Looking around she saw no sign of Jiraiya so she spoke, "Um yeah… where's ero-tousan?"

"Lord Jiraiya was summoned to the hokage. He told us to get your attention when he was leaving and we became more frantic about it when everything started growing. What were you doing to cause all that?" asked Kakashi as he folded his arms, eyes scrutinizing all of her.

"I was trying to reach my chakra…" she didn't know what else to say. It was all she had been doing, she hadn't even touched the power the sage of six paths had granted her, discreetly she checked her right hand but it was covered meaning she couldn't check the sun mark on it.

He looked sceptically at her yet decided against asking any further questions. "I need to take you home… Obito will take Shisui to his house and you're coming to mine…" he seemed reluctant to take her. Not very surprised, Kakashi, even future him, had been reluctant to allow anyone in his home.

She had only seen his home when he invited her over, or when she followed him. However each time he had known she was there, welcoming her with open arms.

There had been a short duration of time she had been his lover, between when she returned to Konoha and when Sasuke came home. No one had known and it hadn't lasted very long. However, even after he had confided in her.

In hurt that this Kakashi was so closed off to her yet she knew it was just how he was.

Bidding the Uchiha's farewell they slowly made their way to Kakashi's home. Once there she had been surprised to see it was the same building as he had lo

lived in before Pain's attack.

She had chuckled and he glared at her lightly, "What's so funny?"

"Honestly, nothing. Your apartment building just reminded me of something back home."

"Konoha is your home now. You should get used to it." She smiled at him, and she felt his chakra jump. Deciding to tease him slightly she latched onto his arm, dragging him to where she knew was his apartment.

She ignored his protests as she gripped his wrist and dragged him up the stairs, ignoring the looks and glare they were receiving. At first she had thought they were to her but then realised they were to Kakashi.

Gritting her teeth she stopped at his door, gesturing for him to open it. Doing so he welcomed her in, somewhat reluctantly.

Removing their shoes for sandals they made their way into the living room. She spied three photos on the mantle-piece, the first was facing downwards yet she knew what it was. It was of Kakashi and his father, Sakumo. The second photo was of his and Minato when he had been made his apprentice. And the third was his team photo.

She sat awkwardly, trying not to look around the place as it was make Kakashi feel out of place. One thing about thing apartment bugged her, Kakashi didn't have any ninken in it. It felt so bare and cold without them.

He made tea and sat on the armchair opposite her. There was a simple three seater sofa and one armchair next to a small desk and lamp. There was two bookshelves filled with books and scrolls and Naruto knew in his bedroom there was a large desk and another bookshelf. Both filled with scrolls and books. They were all categorised in some sort of system Kakashi deemed to be the most understandable.

When she had tried to find something in her own time, she had tried and given up after five minutes then Kakashi had emerged and taken out the book she was looking for. His system never made any sense to her.

"Do you mind if I take a look at your reading materials?" she asked after ten minutes of awkward silence. He gave her a reluctant nod, and in return she gave a bright smile as she browsed the shelves.

After five minutes she still couldn't make sense of his wacky system so she spoke with her back turned to him, not wanting to see his face as she spoke. "I didn't mean offence the other day when I mentioned your father Kakashi. I… Sakumo Hatake did what he thought best, and the village shunned him for it. No matter how much good he had done, nothing bought him out of the darkness the village had put around him. No matter what people say, no matter how much they glare at you and whisper about your father, he did what he thought would take away the pain… in that you are so different you hide your pain through following the rules."

"I hide nothing. The rules are made to be followed. It's why we have them' my father chose his comrades over the mission and in the end they and the rest of the village hated him for it. Instead of facing the consequences he took the selfish way out." She turned around and looked at him, a sad smile on her face as she gazed at him.

"I won't try and change your mind. I know you won't change it yet. But know this, I will always try and make you see the worth of your comrades. No one is dispensable. We are not weapons, we are people who deserved to be loved."

She hadn't realised she had moved towards him till she was in front of him. Her head only reached the middle of his chest, which annoyed her. She hated being short. His shoulders were rigid as she hugged around his torso, his arms frozen at his sides. "You deserve to be loved and not glared at. No matter what the villager's say, no matter how much they glare and whisper, their opinion doesn't matter. They don't know you, they didn't know your father… they have no right to judge so don't let what they say get to you…"

Kakashi felt warm despite his cold exterior. His warmth wrapped around her and as she closed her eyes, his warmth encompassed her into a peaceful slumber.

.

.

.

Naruto began to fall, which was when Kakashi instinctively grabbed her to him. She had fallen asleep, shocking him as to how she could sleep that quickly.

He looked to the clock and cursed, Minato sensei or Lord Jiraiya would be there at any given moment, and here the girl slept. He raised her slight figure, shocked at how little she weighed as she debated where to put her.

He could put her on the sofa where he would get yelled at for not being very hospitable, and if he put her on his bed Minato would go ballistic and not listen to reason.

He felt it was safer to put her on his bed and stay in a different room to her, this way he wouldn't get told off by the sennin and his sensei combined.

Placing her on his bed, he wrapped his sheets around her and watched as she burrowed into them, curling her body around the sheets as she grasped them tightly. He looked around and found is extra pillow and placed it where her arm was, a small smile making its way on his face as he watched her hug it close.

Once he noticed he was basically being a peeping tom he left the room, door ajar, and sat on his armchair.

He thought about what about what Naruto had said, about his father and the villagers. She was right on one thing, he wouldn't change his mind. No matter how determined the hyperactive blonde was, he was just as stubborn.

At some point he must have fallen asleep because he jostled up, shocked by the banging going on at his door. He saw Naruto rub her eyes as she sat up on the bed, quickly he checked the time and saw it had been just a half hour since she had fallen asleep.

He went to the door quickly. The only people who came here were Lord Jiraiya, Kushina and Minato sensei. To his surprise, Minato and Jiraiya both were at his door, Minato having been the one to abuse his door causing him to glare at his sensei.

"Were you trying to break my door, sensei?"

He gestured for them to enter, walking behind them after they did so. "You didn't answer when I first knocked… where is Naruto?"

He pointed to his bedroom door as the blonde emerged, smile bright yet tired eyed. She ran past Minato and straight into Jiraiyas arms. The sennin raised her high, smile wide as she laughed and jumped in his arms.

"Daaad! Where'd you go?" she pouted and folded her arms in front of her. This behaviour caused him to take a step back. Whenever he had seen the girl she had been nothing less than a mature child yet now she's acting like an actual child.

She completely ignored her brother who was standing not far from Jiraiya, a distant sadness clouding his eyes.

Jiraiya chuckled, "Sensei called me into his office, that's all."

She titled her head to the side as she let her arms wrap around his neck, "Do you have to go on another mission?"

"No, brat. He just wanted me to answer some questions, that's all." He ruffled her hair, and looked to Minato. The smile on his face vanished as he regarded his student, "Don't you want to say bye to your brother, Naru?"

She pouted before looked at his sensei, the light in her eye dimmed slightly as did her smile yet she maintained her large smile, "Bye, aniki!" she gave a wave and then looked to Kakashi who was now very short compared to her, "See ya' senpai" he raised a brow at the endearment but waved back at her nonetheless when they left.

Once again an awkward silence fell into his home. He looked to his sensei who had sat down, hands dragging across his face, "Sensei?"

"I think I just screwed things up with Naruto royally. And I don't know how to fix it."

.

.

.

"What do you mean he wants to tell the people?!" yelled a very shocked Naruto. Jiraiya and her had just gotten home when he had told her what had happened at the office.

"He won't be telling everyone. But he will be telling your sensei and whoever ends up as your jonin instructor, teammates as well as whoever looks after you. The ANBU will all be informed, at least the ones who watch over you. You will also be watched more closely whilst in the village. He also wished to talk to you soon." He reluctantly replied, worried what her reaction would be.

"You mean to tell me… the sandaime intends to make my life a misery a second time and doesn't even know it?."

"At least this time they won't be blaming you for the deaths of their loved ones…" offered Jiraiya, unsure what else he could say in consolation.

When the ANBU had come to escort him to the office he knew what it would be about, yet had hoped beyond hope that he was wrong. He had thought Minato valued his sister's love more than he showed, yet clearly he had been mistaken.

He didn't hold blame to his student, after this incident there was no way for the sandaime not to be informed since the ANBU were watching Naruto closely. That didn't stop him from feeling he distrust towards his student. He said he hadn't wished this for Naruto and here they were.

History was repeating itself.

Sort of.

"I'm sure with the limited amount of people being informed, things should work out a lot better." He gave her a smile and got off the sofa, broadly claiming he was going to cook dinner, which in turn caused her to look thoroughly repulsed.


	11. Chapter 10

Naruto was being scrutinized, making her life very much harder. She kept glaring at the ANBU following her around everywhere and had asked Jiraiya to tell them to come inside when they were at home so she didn't have to feel like she had eyes burning into her very soul.

Shisui and she were in her home with Jiraiya doing yet another project together. This project was supposed to be done with a third person, however as there 38 people in her class, one group had to be a group of 2 and to make it easier, the top boy and girl were placed in one group.

They both laid down on their stomachs as they discussed the purpose of each weapon and poison to the best of their abilities. She had to hand it to the boy, despite having no experience he was getting majority of these things right. It was no wonder Itachi had taken to his cousin as a child.

She liked how Shisui was nothing like most of his shinobi clansmen. He laughed, smiled, made jokes and wasn't condescending. He was the exact opposite to Sasuke who was a complete flirt and had a stick up his arse.

Shaking her head she looked back to her assignment. They were currently organising where nerve toxins came from. Shisui said frogs and toads whereas Naruto said snakes. Her argument was that frogs and toads could do no wrong and that snakes were pure evil.

He had given her the stink eye stating she was biased as both her brother and adoptive father held the toad summons, to which she couldn't refute as it was true. In the end they had asked Kakashi who was playing a game of shogi with Jiraiya and he had agreed with Naruto, causing her to stick her tongue at him in the name of her victory.

Shisui had grown on her and ever since Kurama had woken up the pain in her eye had gone, yet she kept the hairstyle as otherwise it would start suspicion.

She had been ecstatic when he had officially woken up a day after the incident with Minato. She understood where he was coming from, she had been hokage and had to make hard decisions. That did not mean she couldn't be moody towards him.

He had literally made her live a life as a known jinchuriki twice now and to top, she couldn't understand the sandaime's logic. No one had been told that Kushina was a jinchuriki besides the absolute necessary people.

It made sense in a way. It was a time of war and he had his duties as hokage to complete- keeping the village safe no matter the cost. However to forsake her was just plain cruel.

.

.

.

MAY- 13 MONTHS

..-..

Shisui watched as the young blonde threw her shuriken. She had been the only one besides himself that had managed to hit in the target yet by her facial expression she didn't seem happy about it. That confused him, it was like she expected more of herself than what she was able to do.

His new classmate intrigued him, she was a foreigner yet was treated kindly as she should, however he suspected it was due to her family. Then there was her eyes; so bright, expressive and blue. He had never seen a shade of blue like her eyes. He had heard people whisper how it should be made a crime that she hid one of them all the time.

The other thing that intrigued him about her was her cheeks. More specifically, the whisker like birth marks on them. He couldn't look at her and not compare her to either a cat or fox.

Cat because once he had scolded her for passing a message with a senbon to Iruka who had been sitting in the row in front yet it had just missed Shisui's face by a hair. He couldn't stay mad and had ended up apologising to her instead. It reminded him of when he had scolded a cat in the district and he had apologised to the cat straight after.

He liked to compare her to a fox because she was crafty and whenever they took classes outside she took a stance that simply reminded him of a fox.

He had also never seen a child his age as clever as she was, not even he was as smart as the girl was and he had been in the academy a lot longer than she had. He had told himself to not get jealous as she had Jiraiya of the sennin as an adoptive parent and Minato Namikaze as a brother. It was only to be expected she would hold a lot of information.

"She's very talented, Naruto I mean." Spoke the spiky haired brunette beside him, Hayate Gekko. "She's the only female in our year that managed to get close to the target."

He had never seen a child his age as clever as she was, not even he was as smart as the girl was and he had been in the academy a lot longer than she had. He had told himself to not get jealous as she had Jiraiya of the sennin as an adoptive parent and Minato Namikaze as a brother. It was only to be expected she would hold a lot of information.

There was one thing that bothered him. She was an open person yet at first had seemed so reserved from him. However he preferred  _that_  to her deep hatred from Mizuki.

Whenever the boy was anywhere near her she would glare and shut out all chances of conversation. He was unsure why she seemed to hate him but something he had learnt was that Naruto had good sensory skills. If she felt someone was bad news, it was best to follow her lead. In fact, many members of the class had adopted this habit and taken to saying very little to the boy- well not completely. They still spoke to him, not completely ignoring him.

Humming Shisui replied, "Well she's being trained outside the academy as well, just like the clan kids in our year. Me included."

"I guess so. I wonder what it's like to be related to Minato and Lord Jiraiya."

Shisui shifted on his feet, unsure how to answer as he had been going over to the blonde's home often to do assignments and had seen the tense air between her and her brother. Lord Jiraiya himself had also been tense as he had regarded his student, yet Shisui chose not to comment as it wasn't his place to do so.

"I'm sure it'd be… lively." It was like that indeed, at least when it was just Naruto and Lord Jiraiya. If she was with Minato she would have a strange tenseness about her. He was sure it had to do with the argument they had had about bijuu the other week yet once again he chose not to comment. He hardly knew her and it would be rude for him to poke his nose where it didn't belong.

Although he had received a summons from the hokage asking for Shisui not to mention the conversation to anyone besides the two blondes and sensei.

.

.

.

Shisui stood beside his aunt Mikoto as she spoke to her red headed friend, Kushina Uzumaki. The woman seemed very nice, however she was also very loud and energetic. She had the longest and straightest red hair he had ever seen. If he had to compare her to someone it had to be his blonde classmate. She had the same personality and also had bright long hair, just not as long of Kushina's was- plus it was blonde not red.

He had to spend the day with his aunt as his father was working with uncle Fugaku at the UPF. He had been going there and on missions far more often these days, yet the boy chose not to comment on it.

Kushina cooed at his cousin, Itachi, who was in his aunts arms, "He's so cute, Mikoto. I heard you had a boy but I don't know what you named him?" she laid a finger on his cousin and cooed when he followed the movement.

"We named him Itachi. He's 16 months old now." Replied his aunt Mikoto as they all carried on walking. His aunt had just picked him up from the academy and now they were on their way home when the red head had caught sight of them and yelled for them as she waved her hands, a broad smile that showed too many teeth to go with it.

"It's been so long since I've seen you in the village Kushina. How have you been? And how is little Naruto?" at the sound of his classmates name he looked to the two women, unsure how either of them knew the blonde.

"I've been great dattebane! They need my help out on the frontlines now that the war has been announced. And as for Naruto… I'm not too sure 'tebane, I haven't been in the village for a few weeks." She seemed to have a similar verbal tic that the blonde also had as she liked to randomly shout out dattebayo and for the life of him, he couldn't understand what it meant.

"I heard. Is there nothing that can be done about it? Another war especially so soon would make things harder just after we got things back together." They went past the shop aunty usually took him to yet chose not to mention it and further listen to the women's conversation. "And it's a pity about not having seen the girl… I haven't been introduced to her yet so I don't know if she'll be alright with the arrangements…" Aunt Mikoto looked nervous as she spoke which was unusual for the Uchiha matriarch.

"How do you know-" began Shisui yet was interrupted by a loud yell.

"NARUTO!" shisui turned, startled by the sudden shout. Low and behold, Naruto was running away from what seemed to be a crazy purple haired female who was holding as well as throwing kunai at the laughing blonde.

Without thinking he grabbed a hold of the blonde before she passed them, however he hadn't been prepared for her to end up taking him with her wherever she was going.

"Hey, Naruto! What's going on? Who's chasing us and why?" he asked as they continued to run through the village.

"Anko Mitarashi. She's the apprentice of the snake sennin. I insulted him since she insulted ero-tousan and she didn't seem to like the comment." She was laughing as she barely avoided a crate of apples being loaded, the shop owner yelling at them causing Shisui to shout an apology.

Naruto turned and threw a kunai at something which dropped a bucket of sludge on the purple girl, causing her to pause before she shrieked, exclaiming she would kill the blonde for this.

At the threat Naruto laughed at grabbed a hold of Shisui again as she yelled, "We had best get out of her way, 'tebayo! Or she'll skin us!" she laughed again as they made their way through the streets of Konoha.

It surprised him, Naruto seemed to know every nook and cranny about the roads despite having only lived in the village for over a month. In fact, she seemed to know far more than he did and he had lived here since his birth.

She dragged them into an ally and forced them behind the stacked crates. Placing a hand over his mouth she listened out for the loud voice of Miss Mitarashi and heard her speak between breaths, "Hey Hatake! Have you seen that blonde brat?"

"Anko. First there is no need to speak in such an undignified way, you're a kunoichi so act like it. And lest you forget, there are lots of blondes in Konoha. The most common would be the Yamanaka. If you want me to answer your question, detail it." Replied the person she had called Hatake, which he assumed had to be Kakashi.

"Short, loud, shocking long blonde hair, blue eyes, whisker marks and a real pain in people's asses. Seen her around?"

There was a long pause before he heard fabric shuffling, "Not since she was at my place the other day."

"Kakashi." Replied Anko in a monotone voice. "You realise she's a kid right?"

"Not like that you perverted female. She's Minato sensei's sister. She has a habit of making herself home at my place." Snapped Kakashi. Shisui looked at Naruto who seemed to be on the verge of laughing.

"GAH! I don't have time for you!" yelled Anko as she ran off in a fruitless pursuit of the blonde.

"Naruto Namizake. What did you do this time?" asked Kakashi as he looked to the blonde. He saw the Uchiha and questioned who he was.

"I insulted the honour of her lord and saviour, Orochimaru after she insulted ero-tousan. And this is Shsui Uchiha. You know, the one Obito likes to call a brattish pain in his arse." She removed the hand on his mouth as they got up from their crouched positions. "Senapi meet Shisui Uchiha, Shisui meet Kakashi Hatake. If you think the Uchiha clan have no personalities you haven't met Kakashi."

"We already met the other week week during the whole uh argument with Minato." Shisui replied awkwardly. How had she forgotten they had already met? But it made sense as she hasn't been the one to do the introductions as it had been his cousin.

"Brat. Remember there is a hierarchy, Anko and I are your superiors and you will act like a subordinate." Naruto was right, he was worse than his clan, how that was possible alluded him yet chose once again not to comment. Ever since meeting the blonde he had been wanting answers when he knew he wouldn't get any.

Kakashi left not long after having spoken to the blonde that any shinobi would be able to track her, to which she had said that Anko clearly couldn't. They had then gotten into a bet stating that there was no way Naruto could get into the missions room and paint a message without getting caught.

The bet consisted of Naruto owing Kakashi three days of meals if she lost and Kakashi owing her two training sessions with Obito and the catch was he couldn't complain. He had then requested to change the bet to five days to which she had agreed, she was after all asking a lot of the boy apparently.

They had also agreed on Naruto's ANBU detail not counting as they wouldn't see if they hadn't been forced to watch her every move.

Somehow Shisui had no choice but to join them and after getting a bottle of easily removable spray paint, they all made their way to the tower.

Not even six minutes later Naruto came back looking very pleased with herself as she stated what she wrote: 'You need to work on your sensory abilities. A five year old broke in and did some vandalism.' She had clentched a hand over her stomach as she laughed over what she had done causing Shisui to also laugh, however in a far more dignified manner.

However Shisui stopped laughing when he remembered what he had been doing before this mess. More specifically who he had been with.

Naruto apologised and escorted him home so she could explain what had happened and to introduce herself to the matriarch. It was then that Shisui found out that Mikoto was in line to look after Naruto yet he was not told who the rest were.

.

.

.

With the arrival of a new week came the arrival of the event Naruto had been looking greatly towards. The survival outing that would take place in the forest of death.

Since her arrival she had not gone into the forest and now she got a chance to enter without causing any suspicion. A bonus to being out in nature was that her ANBU weren't allowed anywhere near her. They had to stand guard outside the forest, but it wouldn't be that easy.

Just outside the forest was a river and mountains that had been previously caged off in her time yet that had not been created yet. The river she found out, led to Naka River. The river had a lot of history in Naruto's mind and she also assumed the reason it had been blocked off was either because it made the forest even more dangerous or because following the River would lead to the Uchiha district.

She had been unable to do anything outside of Konoha but that did not mean she couldn't do anything inside her borders. She had met up with Kakashi several times with Obito and they seemed to be able to stand each other's presences for more than an hour before one of them snapped.

In her book that was progress, Sasuke and she couldn't last that long without some form of incentive when they had been their age.

Then there was the matter of getting the hokages attention to peace. That agenda was also going very well. Four days after Kurama woke up she had been contacted by a gama of Mount Myoboku stating that the Ogama sennin knew she was here and that her contract was still in place. This had made things a lot easier as she could send messages to the hokage under the pretence of an unknown gama sennin helping out Konoha. Of course Jiraiya had been questioned however when Lord Fukasaku came and said they could not say who the sage was, the old man had dropped it.

The lord had also managed to get an agreement from the hokage, the ANBU detail would leave Naruto the moment she became a genin, as he wished to personally train her in the gama way, to which he had agreed. Consequently, Jiraiya had mumbled about how his sensei listened to an old toad and not him.

She was bought out of her musings as she stood by her team. Everyone had been placed in groups of three, which was made easier as two students had been pulled out of the academy the previous week, however who was going to lead their team was unknown and they wouldn't find out till they arrived at the outskirts of the forest

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Right so I've made change to the timeline yet again so if anyone is interested please go back and check it out.  
> The main change is everyone is a year older than I originally made them so now naruto is 5 and she thinks shisui is the same age as the kids in her class 6 or 7.  
> I'm doing this on my phone so I apologise for any mistakes and I will go back soon to make the extra changes I have made.  
> I won't update this toll after Halloween so I hope everyone enjoys themselves and stays safe.  
> TILL NEXT TIME!


	12. Chapter 11

She had sensed them yet she merely assumed they were in a different are to where she was headed. Minato, Kakashi, Obito, Rin and all of her jonin instructors from her time were there.

She stood next to her teammate Shisui. They were supposed to go in groups of three however a large amount of kids had caught a virus that was going around the village so they made it so there was two per team.

They walked upon team Minato and Naruto tried to ignore Shisui's behaviour yet she wasn't that courteous, "What's wrong? You seem… shifty?"

He looked at her, slightly startled as if he hadn't expected her to speak up, "I… noticed we're going to where your brother is…"

It took Naruto a few moments to figure out what he was trying to get at causing her to scratch the back of her neck, "Ah… It's fine. It was just an argument. Things are tense but I've been in more awkward situations."

One particular awkward situation was when Sasuke tried to kill Sakura as she tried to kill him, Kakashi trying to stop them from killing each other as Obito disguised as Madara, and Naruto arrived saving Sakura whilst getting poisoned. She tried her hardest to hide her awkwardness with her drive to bring Sasuke, but of course the bastard couldn't see it and left with his psychopathic relative.

She was bought back to reality as Obito jumped on her back, causing her to stumble forwards and she would have landed on her face had Kakashi not reached out his hand to grab a hold of her arm. She looked at him, giving him a smile, "Thanks." She then looked to Obito, ignoring the fact Kakashi was glaring at him as he crossed his arms. Obito deserved it this time.

She was about to speak up when she noticed Shisui looking to Minato and decided to talk to him instead, "Hey, aniki." She gave him a smile which she hoped had more happiness than she felt. She was still sore about the whole incident but was mostly over it. Besides, graduation was only a few months away so it was some relief.

He gave her a bright smile in return and ruffled her hair when he saw she didn't move from him, clearly happy about the sudden change in her behaviour to him, "How are you, Naruto?"

"I'm great! Are you guys staying for the survival lesson?" she asked, genuinely curious about what they were doing there.

"In a way. All genin and myself will be taking part to make it a three man cell whilst we get experience being with people outside of our team, under our care who are less experienced than us." Explained Kakashi as he dragged Obito away from his cousin who looked thoroughly harassed.

It was a fun sight to be held, Shisui no shunshin puffing out his cheeks which were pink as he pouted with crossed arms.

"Um… so does anyone know who's going with which team?" asked Shisui after he received a light pat on the back from Rin.

They were interrupted by a kunai flying their direction, thankfully this time Minato caught it. They all looked up to see Anko causing Naruto to hide slightly behind Minato's leg. She was not afraid, not at all, she was simply making a tactical decision to hide from a bomb.

For her part, Anko blushed a deep red as soon as she got to them and noticed who it was Naruto was hiding behind. Everyone refrained from raising their brows or even questioning it, however there was someone there who didn't have the same level of intuity as the rest of them did, "Heh, Anko. What's with the red face?" the comment got him a fierce glare from the snake sennin's apprentice as she took a step forward as a warning.

Naruto, understanding the tense air spoke up, "I'm sure it's because of the sun. It's a lot hotter here than it is in Taki or Ame. In fact, it rains like all the time in Ame." She rambled as she made random gestures with her hands. Her distraction worked as everyone forgot the previous conversation and moved back to her original conversation.

"Well, Rin is going to be with Umino-sans team, Obito with Akimichi-sans team, and Kakashi is going to be with the two of you. Who will you be with Anko-san?" spoke Minato as he looked to the girl which made her blush again.

"I'll uh, I'll be paired with Izumo and Kotetsu. Those guys actually fought to be on the same team."

This caused them all to chuckle expect for Naruto whose eyes were full of mirth as she regarded Kakashi. The silver haired boy caught her look as looked at her wearily, "So… senpai… should I call you… Kakashi-sensei?" Obito, Minato and Shisui stifled their laughs behind their hands as they looked on to see Kakashi's reaction.

"You will do no such thing. I wanted no part of this before, if you call me that, I'll want to take part in it less."

She pouted as she jumped on his back, arms around his neck making him hold onto her legs for fear what his sensei would do if he dropped the man's only sister.

"You're no fun, sensei. You need to let loose!" she chuckled into his ear causing him to grit his teeth.

"Naruto." Spoke minato. It was amazing how one deadpan voice could catch everyone's attention. "I think you've been spending too much time with Jiraiya sensei… he most certainly has been having a bad effect on you…"

"No I haven't! And don't blame ero-tousan! He's perfectly innocent!" once the words came out of her mouth she shook her head. He was not innocent. "Okay. He's innocent when he isn't staring at large boobs, flirting with women or writing his hentai. But other than that, he's innocent!"

The statement caused Shisui to blush and for everyone else to blink twice before they all check their ears to make sure they didn't hear her wrong. They looked at each other and noticed they had in fact not heard her wrong and the six year old had just said all of that.

Before any of them could berate her or Jiraiya the teacher began to speak, "Welcome, everyone, to training ground 44. Also known as the forest of death! In this forest you will spend a day getting from one point in the map to the other point! You must also find and bring back one item that is on each of your maps! There are three items on each map, giving you plenty of options to choose from.

"The jonin instructors have allowed us to these young genin and chunin in this lesson. Make sure to listen to them! They will complete the three man cells as well as ensure you have a qualified leader! Team leaders, please go to your designated teams and the three of you will line up and collect your things!"

With that everyone bid their farewells and scattered to where their teams were.

"So, we're supposed to be looking for a golden kunai… where do people come up with this sort of stuff?!" yelled Naruto as they passed the next golden item. So far it had been over an hour and they had seen three golden items, none of which happened to be a kunai.

"Well, we're also looking for a blue and black sea shell with the konoha symbol carved on it." Spoke Shisui, as if it actually made things any better.

"And that's another thing! If they wanted us to look for stuff, why couldn't it be something interesting like a sealing scroll or, or a scroll of jutsu! That would be a lot more interesting than a bunch of shiny things!"

"Naruto, you need to keep your voice low. There are a lot of creature here in the forest that can kill you, and if you die Minato sensei will make my life an absolute hell." Spoke Kakashi as he glared at her, he seemed to be in a fouler mood than usual today. Most likely due to the fact he hates kids and other people in general. That and Naruto sure as hell was talking a lot.

She chose to whisper to Shisui about how she could imagine Kakashi as an Uchiha, both sniggering as they thought of it.

They made it to the river and it didn't take them very quickly where they found their sea shell, Kakashi putting it in a sealing scroll before they started hiking up the mountain to where the kunai should be. Key word should. There were lots of things in places where they shouldn't be meaning someone had tampered with the field, making everyone's life a lot harder than it had to be.

Once they reached the top, Kakashi ducked and Naruto shoved Shisui to the ground as three kunai came their way. Naruto and Shisui grunted as her eyes turned yellow, yet she managed to keep Kurama from unleashing his chakra, it would do none of them any good right now. That of course did not stop the ninja from grabbing a hold of her and holding a kunai to her neck.

 _So original_ , She though sarcastically with an eye roll/

"What are Iwa ninja doing in Konoha?" asked Naruto as Kakshi forced Shisui behind him.

There were two men and one woman, all wearing Kumo headbands but she knew they were from Iwa. They wreaked or the Tsuchikage and the smell of Iwa as well.

"Now, what makes you think we're from Iwa? Our headbands clearly state we're from Kumo." Spoke the woman, in a teasing condescending voice making Naruto wish she could rip out her vocal chords. Just because she was in the body of a child does not mean she needed to be treated like one.

"You smell of Iwakagure as well as the Tsuchikage. If Onoki has a problem with Konoha's children, tell him to come here himself instead of sending his people to attack us." Kakashi at this point was inching his hand closer and closer to his tonto but knew he couldn't draw it out, not without them most likely cutting her throat.

They dug the kunai deeper into her neck, "Shut your mouth, little girl, or we'll show you what Iwa are really capable of." She lady hissed, Naruto fought back a flinch as it was digging into her skin without breaking it.

"OH I'm shaking in my sandals. You've come to attack children.  _Children_. None of us are even ten, and you want to kill us. I take that as a sign of weakness. Why didn't you try to kill of our elder chunin or jonin? Because you don't have the will of stone that your kage preaches of." She taunted as she discreetly released some Ki, hoping someone would notice and come help.

That comment caused the lady to break her skin, "Shut up! What does a little wet nose brat know of our people? The will of stone is forever! It shall never perish!  _We_  are the will of stone!" spoke the man with short brown hair. He was clearly on something since no one can  _be_  a will of anything. Sure, you can be an example of it, but not be a manifestation of it.

"To think, that someone like you calls himself the will of anything. It's not only ridiculous, it's pathetic!" she unleashed seven of her tails to wrap around their necks, mindful not to let the chakra touch her. She and Kurama had been practicing, as long as he didn't coat her in too much chakra she was okay so unleashing the tails alone had been their agreed plan for a situation like this.

"Naruto!" yelled Kakashi and Shisui, eyes wide as they looked at her.

"Like this, it's fine. As long as I'm not shrouded." They both looked uncertain as they gave a small nod in her direction, both coming to stand beside her.

Kakashi took out his tonto as he looked at them with cold eyes, "Now, really. Why are you here?" he didn't get a chance to hear the answer as they all began screaming in agony, Kurama's chakra burning them from the outside in. she released her tails and they all fell to the ground, yelling in agony.

Their yells must have been very loud as not even a minute later the ANBU were here. As she thought about it, she assumed they left their posts due to her sudden burst of chakra and KI.

"Naruto, care to explain this?" asked the ANBU in the panda mask.

"They tried to kill me and my defence mechanism activated and wrapped around their throats, burning them in the process." she asked more than stated causing scepticism to cover their eyes before looking to Kakashi who gave them a nod, confirming that that was what had happened.

The ANBU took them and allowed them to carry on with their task, collecting the shell they had come up there for.

As they carried on walking they heard a loud scream that was fading before hearing a loud splash.

They all turned around and saw Obito leaning against the waterfall, struggling with something. They went to him to see what was going on, ignoring Kakashi's dispute on how it was a set mission for each individual to take control of.

Obito was in fact trying to pull up Doto Akimichi, however due to his heavy mass Obito seemed to be struggling. "Hey Obito… need any help?" asked Naruto as she leaned forwards to help pick him up.

"Never mind the two of us, if none of you mind, someone help the genin that fell in the water, I don't think he can swim properly since he's got an injured arm."

The three of them looked at each other before Naruto dove straight in, causing both boys of her team to yell at her. She dove in, head first before reaching out her head to breathe.

She looked for the person Obito was talking about and saw that he was trying to keep a hold on a boulder that was in the river. The current was strong so she didn't have to put much effort into making it over to him. She stopped at the boulder, however with the strong current it caused her to hit her arm against it.

Ignoring the sting of pain it bought she yelled, "Hey, I'm here to help, okay! Just hold on tight whilst I try to tie us up!" she reached down for the rope in her pocket. As she did so a sharp object cut her leg, making it bleed but it started to heal almost instantaneously.

She saw Kakashi walk down the waterfall and over to them so she spoke, "Kakashi, I need you to take this rope and help pull us out the water! If not, tie it onto something so we can pull ourselves out!" he nodded and once she had the rope tied around her classmate whose name she didn't remember he took the rope and tied it to a tree, helping to pull the other girl out of the water.

Once she was out, Kakashi threw the rope over to her and she gripped it tightly, pulling herself out as Kakashi and the girl tried to get her out. It was a lot quicker than getting the shorter female out as there were more people helping this time, however that didn't stop them from groaning. They were all wet, and most likely, by the evening they would all have fevers as well. Minus Naruto who never got sick.

Obito, Doto and Shisui made it to them not long after as they were still catching their breaths, "Are you guys alright?" asked Obito as he rubbed the back of his neck.

When no one replied he started inspecting each of them hurriedly from top to bottom, making sure they were alright as he spoke so fast that Naruto couldn't make such sense of what he had been saying.

What she did understand was that he was very embarrassed for needing their help, and was very pleased Kakashi had helped despite him being a baka. In fact he had a complete new word just for Kakashi, Bakashi. Oh she was so going to use that when he's being an idiot. Or not.

The girl who had fallen in the water was called Mikasa and she was an orphan, who was also at least two years older than them and was highly embarrassed for having to be saved by people younger than her. To which Kakashi had to point out Obito was their leader and technically needed help from two students as well, causing the two of them to argue as a storm suddenly befell the forest.

Naruto sat up with a jolt. They had taken a rest to dry up and other things, yet she hadn't remembered falling asleep. She looked around to see others had also fallen asleep, minus Kakashi who was watching over them.

"You alright there senpai?" she asked quietly, knowing he would hear her anyway.

He gave her no reply but both of their attentions turned to a moan of pain that sounded from Misaki. Brows furrowed she leaned over to where she was, next to Doto, and touched her and was very shocked to feel she was very warm. If something felt very warm to Naruto it was most likely hot due to the fact that she ran on a high temperature anyway.

She looked back to Kakashi and spoke, "Can you come and check her temperature? I think she has a fever." Kakashi stood up promptly and checked her forehead, nodding to Naruto that she did indeed have a fever.

She sighed and ruffled through her bag to see if she had any pills in her scrolls, but no such luck. She hardly needed medical treatment outside of Kurama so she never felt the need to carry any. That and Sakura and her could heal almost anything without the need of medication.

She asked Kakashi to see if he had any yet he had said he hadn't packed any, thinking it wouldn't be necessary for such a short journey.

Making sure she was the only one who had a temperature, Naruto groaned when Kakashi stated that Doto and Obito also had fevers, Obito's however was a lot cooler than the others and would most likely be fine after a short nap.

The rain hadn't let up, they were wet in the middle of the forest of death and they had three men down.

Great.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well it most certainly has been a while. Mostly due to laziness, I will suddenly write and as soon as something catches my attention I’ve stopped writing. 
> 
> Any-who I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and if anything does not make sense or is wrong please point it out in the comment section. 
> 
> Another thing, if you don’t like my story, please say so without all the swearing. I received a PM on a different site that was very offensive and rude that put me off


	13. Chapter 12

Things seemed to only get worse from there. Despite having taken a nap, Obito's fever remained and the others simply got worse. Kakashi hid his feelings well, yet Naruto could feel them. He was nervous and very irritated.

He had assured himself he was able to do anything he put his mind to as long as he followed the rules. However there were no set rules for this. It was never an option for a team to leave for a mission without proper supplies, and for them to fall ill.

Naruto was unsure what to say as well. She could still sense danger lurking by but she had been feeling that ever since she met Orochimaru. Feeling for people's chakra would be of no use, she didn't know these people and there could be good behind the bad they showed.

It was Shisui who broke the silence, "Um could I make a suggestion?" his speaking up had been a wake-up call for them.

Where Kakashi most likely thought he had a lot of baggage a.k.a. the ill people Naruto had been thinking she could use the kage-bunshin but that was impossible till she had better chakra control.

However Shisui was here and that gave them another set of hands, feet and brains. Kakashi gave the boy a nod and he gulped at the sudden attention, "We could each carry one of them and return to the meet up location-"

Before he could finish Kakashi spoke up, "The purpose is to find the items on our list. We would have to find items on their list also or they don't pass."

It shocked her that he had even thought of their assignment, or that he even contemplated that they would have to do work for the other team. Whilst Naruto was all for teamwork and camaraderie in a unit, she drew a line where it came to doing each-others work. A person would only learn through experience, well that was always how she learned.

"No we won't. They fell ill and are now disqualified due to their incapability to complete the task. I agree with Shisui's plan, we can carry them whilst we go looking for the rest of the things we need."

Kakashi scrutinized the two of them before looking back at the three on the ground before nodding his head, the three of them carrying their task with extra struggles.

.

.

.

OCTOBER- 18 MONTHS

..-..

Naruto wasn't sure if she should be irritated or happy about the situation. Okay, she knew she should be irritated because there was no way she could be happy about it.

The announcement of curriculum change had happened two weeks ago and it mostly detailed that students in the academy had to complete a certain number of D rank missions in order to graduate. Naruto had plenty of free time and had decided to do them all in one go, one mission a day, however Jiraiya liked to add a small twist to these missions stating that she had to do each one in record time and she had managed to do so.

Out of twelve missions she had done eleven as she had had days of extensive training and couldn't go about taking a mission.

As to why she was irritated, well, let's go back a bit. Iruka hadn't taken his first mission so he had requested that Naruto and Shisui, who had already completed two missions, to join him in selecting a mission. Both of the found they were unable to say no to him so they had agreed. This all led up to Iruka getting a mission and now he was requesting help with it.

With any other mission she would have given a smile and helped no matter what however this was different. This was a dangerous D rank mission that ought to be labelled as a C rank given how dangerous it was. One never finished this mission without some form of an injury, usually a bleeding one.

Capturing and returning Tora the cat.

Naruto was certain that… thing… wasn't a cat. Whilst she didn't get along with cats very much, that was Sasuke's territory, she didn't think it was possible for any cat could be crueller than Matatabi who was a  _demon_ , yet Tora ranked above the two tailed cat.

She looked towards Shisui with uncertain eyes, with the three of them together it would make things a lot easier and she had managed to successfully complete the kage bunshin during the last few months. She couldn't make as many as she could initially but at least she could make some, it made her training faster as well.

She sighed in resignation, it would help get them another mission in their total, and looked to the Uchiha who shrugged as if saying 'what ya' gonna do?'

With the help of four kage bunshin they managed to find Tora and capture him with claw scratches brandishing the boys' arms when they arrived 87 minutes after having been given the mission. Naruto had also been scratched however they had been long since healed. It was a miracle the boys hadn't seen her injury or she would have a hard time explaining it to Iruka. Shisui had been a witness to her abilities previously so there would have been no explaining to do with him.

"Never again! If you get a capture Tora the cat mission again, even if we agree to help, we're not gonna, 'tebayo! I swear, Tora is a demon!  _Demon_  I tell you!" yelled Naruto as the three of them made their way through Konoha.

Her sudden yell caused several people to jump slightly and shinobi's to subconsciously reach for their weapons. She rolled her eyes at their paranoia, there was no way anyone would sneak into Konoha's defence system with the martial law in place.

Anyone who entered or exited was checked thoroughly, one of the gate guards was also either a Hyuuga or Uchiha as their doujutsu kekkei-genkai allowed them to notice henge's a lot easier than the naked eye.

Of course, both families has initially protested, stating that they would have a better use on the battlefield, however both had stopped when a spy infiltrated and one of their clansmen had noticed. They knew the importance and had made sure that there was always a member of either or both clans on guard.

She had once imagined what Izumo and Kotetsu would look like with the doujutsu's and laughed. It would have made their relationship a lot more scandalous than it had been originally. A Hyuuga and Uchiha together, she had to be forced by Jiraiya to stop laughing at the mere thought of it.

As they walked Iruka home they went passed the barbeque place and noticed two distinct people and two not quite distinct people. Minato, Kakashi, Rin and Obito. She was going to avoid them as she was still shaky around Minato however Iruka was exactly like her as a child, a loudmouth who couldn't read the room even if his life depended on it.

He insisted that the three of them join Team Minato, not listening even when they had stated that they would be intruding. His reply had been that Naruto was Minato's sister and Kakashi was practically besotted with her as well Obito. Of course that had simply caused her to hit the boy over the head explaining how they were being very protective over her as to not upset Minato, and not because they fancied her. Which in turn went to her explain the love triangle in Team Minato; Obito was in love with Rin who was in love with Kakashi who was in love with the rules.

This, of course, did not stop him from dragging them to the table across causing Naruto and Shisui to sigh before they ordered something to eat. Obito and Iruka were also very similar, both unable to read the room and insisted that the three of them join since he had yet to be introduced to Iruka.

They all moved to a larger table, Minato at the head, Naruto between Kakashi and Shisui where Rin was between Obito and Iruka.

"Are you scared of Rin? Is that why you're sitting next to me?" she whispered in his ear and thanks to many years of knowing Kakashi she was able to see the smallest twitch of his brow indicating he didn't like her question.

Leaning low enough, he replied into her ear, "You and I both know that's not the reason."

Quirking a brow she placed her chin on her hand, "Oh, pray tell what is?"

She didn't receive a verbal reply and instead he looked to Rin and Obito a few times till she got it. In order to get Rin out of her fancy for Kakashi the two of them had taken to setting the two genin's up whenever they could and this was just one of those instances.

Chuckling to herself she gave him a quick peck on the cheek, "You know, I'd be a bit cautious of this. I know it was my idea but people seem to be getting the idea you fancy me and that won't do with your… reputation. I'm also certain my brother would try to make your life as miserable as humanly possible."

This caused his eyes to grow a fraction as he felt a sudden spike of killing intent coming off the elder blonde who was smiling. It was a very distinct smile as well that reminded him of Kushina whenever Minato upset her.

Yandere smile.

A shiver went down both of their spines as they straightened, Naruto nervously rubbing the back of her head whereas Kakashi remained stoic on the outside.

"So uh… How's it going Rin? I haven't seen you that much…" spoke the younger blonde hoping her father/brother would cut out his KI or she was certain Iruka would flee on sight.

The brunette looked to her with a bright smile however it didn't fully reach her eyes, "Well… I've been mostly cooped up with my medic work. Whenever Team Minato is given time off I'm at the hospital training myself to become a better medic."

Naruto have her a wide grin, "Well I have no doubt that you'll be an amazing medic. After-all, you have so much time to practice at the hospital and- on Obito of course."

"You wanna repeat that blondie?!" yelled an indignant Obito Uchiha.

She liked Obito a lot, he was like that annoying older brother she never wanted however she often had this small problem whenever he was muttering about his sharingan. All she could see was Tobi, half his face in swirls with one sharingan eye as he tried to kill the five nations.

Shaking her head slightly she smirked to the Uchiha opposite her however before she could say something Shisui spoke up, "Cousin please. There's no need to be rude to Naruto. And what does her hair colour have to do with anything? It's the exact same shade as your sensei."

Naruto and Obito blinked owlishly at him before Minato sighed, "Well, in any event Naruto have you decided who you're staying with tonight? Jiraiya sensei is out of the village and I'm getting dispatched tonight. You already know Kushina is out of town."

She slowly nodded and spoke, "I'll head off to the Uchiha compound and stay with Mikoto-san. I even volunteered to look after little Itachi as well."

She had bumped into Mikoto by accident the other day when she had gone shopping with Kushina. The Uchiha matriarch had been holding a very small, very chubby and very adorable Itachi Uchiha who was most likely only a few months old.

It had been a huge shock to her system to see the man turned baby like that. She knew how babies came along and knew his mother would have gone through natural procedures to have him however she had never thought he would look so adorable.

Adorable wasn't something she ever had in mind when she saw or thought of the most loyal shinobi.  _Alluring_  was more of a befitting word for the late tall, dark haired Uchiha.

"You know Aunt Mikoto?" asked Obito, mouth full of food.

"Uh… kinda? I met her the other day when I was out with Kushina doing some shopping and we ended up staying with her for a few hours. That was when I said whenever I was at her home I'd help with little Itachi. But I technically met her when I returned Shisui after kidnapping him." she gave a shrug as if a six year old volunteering to help babysit a new born was something they should be used to- well it was easier to believe than her kidnapping someone.

Not long later they all parted ways however Naruto left with the two Uchiha's over to the Uchiha district, Obito giving commentary about this building, that shop and such whereas Shisui simply walked beside her in silence.

She took in the sight of the district and tried her hardest to memorise all the details. It looked so different now that it had living people within it. Sasuke hardly allowed anyone within the district walls besides herself and the jinchuriki when they wanted a physical meeting in Konoha.

It was odd, nothing about the district was different yet the people seemed to make all the difference.

She had a small and tentative smile on her face as she looked at everyone they went by, all of them wearing the Uchiha crest on their backs and she tried not to think how these smiling, lively people had planned a coup that was have caused a civil war.

Part of her was slightly guilty about not paying rigorous attention to what Obito was saying however there was a chakra signature that was nearby that was catching her attention.

ROOT.

She had fully formulated her plans for Danzo however would like it if he could live. Sure, he was a bastard that deserved a few hours with Kurama in T&I however he was a vital part of this war. She could deal with him at a later time if he causes any trouble she can't prevent.

Jiraiya had managed to get word to his three Ame students via his gama messengers however there was only so much talking would do. Hanzo was a large and definite problem that needed to be dealt with sooner or later- preferably sooner. The problem with that though was Hanzo was way too powerful for her to deal with unless she got all her powers back. He had after all won against the three sennin whilst on his own. And the poison he could emit could also be another problem.

She shook her head, missing the concerned look she was receiving and followed the boys to the Uchiha head's house. Once they were outside Obito began to fidget and made an excuse about why he was leaving them and left to be anywhere but near Fugaku.

She didn't blame him. She had only ever met the man once which had been an accident and whilst he said nothing to her, he had a very imposing figure and the infamous Uchiha resting-bitch-face on him causing him to look even scarier. Of course, those silly tactics won't work on her anymore since she was nearly nineteen (technically) and had to face up against Madara Uchiha who and Kaguya.

And the five kage.

And paperwork.

She shuddered at the thought. Despite the fact she had to use of kagebunshin to get her paperwork done quicker she had never really liked for them to deal with it so she did some whilst a clone did some. The rest of her duties would be overseen by her clones instead.

Mikoto had opened the door so after a formal greeting, the two classmates entered the home which was when she tried to note all the differences in the home. The colours were the same, some of the furniture was the same others different, and there was lots of pictures up as well.

Those were something Sasuke had promptly taken down after the massacre and especially since he had moved back into the district upon his return.

Giggling bought her out of her musings as she noticed they were in the living room where there was a dark blue Moses basket and inside was baby Itachi. They both made their way over to him, Naruto skipping however Shisui being the proper and dignified Uchiha he was simply walked over. Naruto, after asking, was allowed to pick up the younger Uchiha who was trying to tug at her hair.

' _I won't allow you any pain this time. I won't allow the coup and I won't allow you to be pained by your clan like you were last time. I'm the jinchuriki and I already know all we need to know about Akatsuki. I will let everyone love you though, the love the people never gave whilst you were alive.'_  She thought to herself.

Itachi had once been the village's messiah, their most loyal shinobi and she refused to allow him to feel such pain he had felt during his life again. She had even gotten A Raikage to agree on the man, and had been further gratified when Onoki had also reluctantly agreed, giving his own praise to the prodigy. Even in death he had been loyal as shown during the fourth war.

A giggle bought her out of her thoughts as Itachi had managed to tug on a lock of her hair and instead of scowling like some of the Konoha 11 would have she simply smiled and laughed it off.

Thoughts of what the future would be like had no part in her daily life, expect when she was with Jiraiya and she should remember that. Trapping oneself in a future that she was determined to not allow to happen would do no good to anyone.

.

.

.

"I decline." Spoke Jiraiya. He had just returned to Konoha and had gone straight to the hokages office in order to report his mission and proceed to pick up Naruto from the academy.

However, the sandaime was having other thoughts, "I want her in this office and I want a full sweep of her mind. It is for Konoha's safety that I say this." He replied as he took a puff of his pipe.

Jiraiya gave his hokage a glare, "She is a little girl. Having someone else in her mind could damage it beyond repair! She already has a bijuu in her head, do you want to add to that?" he gave no time for his kage to reply as he carried on, "And to top it off you have nothing to gain for going through her mind. She was raised by me in Ame so there is nothing for you to see but me training the three brats whilst she was around."

The sandaime raised a hand to stop Jiraiya from rambling further, "If you will not allow me to have a sweep of her mind then she will need a sanity check another way."

Jiaraiya waved both his hands in the air, annoyance over the situation winning over his patience, "Sanity check! And how insane can a little ball of sunshine be exactly? I know you spy on her from time to time with that glass ball of yours sensei so you must see how she is."

"Indeed I do Jiraiya. It was through seeing her that I came up with the idea of checking her mind. She often mutters to herself even when people are around." He began signing some of the documents on the desk and Jiraiya was sorely tempted to get some kids to throw such a ruckus it would give the old man a lot more paperwork however decided against it.

"She either mutters to herself over ideas or when she talks to the bijuu. That's it." He decided to ignore the fact Naruto also had another personality lurking her mind, it was her professional persona she had stated was for when she had gone on S rank missions before her time as kage.

The sandaime gave no immediate reply and instead finished reading and signing the document before crossing his fingers under his chin. Sighing he closed his eyes before speaking, "Since you seem to have an answer for everything I will let it all slide. However, I will keep asking questions and if I do not receive an answer I am 100% happy with, she will undergo the Yamanaka clan technique. Dismissed."

He waved Jiraiya out the room who ground his teeth together before making his way over to the academy to go pick up Naruto early. It would be fun to see how she would try to make it seem like she didn't already know he was in the village.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N (me hiding behind a rock) Hellllooooo there lovely readers who have stayed on this long despite the loooooong wait for this update. A lot of things happened but it was mostly the flow of the chapter that made me delay it. I made a thousand words then I disliked 500 of them and redid it. Over and over again. For a month.  
> Well I hope everyone had a nice Christmas and New Years even if you don’t celebrate them! Till next time! Don’t forget to comment/review!


	14. Chapter 13

 

DECEMBER- 20 MONTHS-

..-..

Naruto sat at her desk bored out of her mind. She and the rest of her classmates were all taking their written genin exam paper. Some would argue that this was a very early age to graduate from the academy, most of them being 7 as was her physical age, however they were in war and needed as many people out as they could get.

It gave her some consolation that this written exam was a lot harder than the three she had taken in her own time and also questioned how a person would react in dangerous situations. Majority of the questions had essay like answers so the exam was double the time to the ones in her time.

This of course did nothing to deter her from finishing as quickly as possible, being in paperwork work mode and trying to get it done as soon as humanly possible.

She took a look around the room and she saw majority of the class hard at work with all their attention on their test papers except one person… Tadase Nara. Unlike Shikamaru he was awake during the exam however he had long since finished it, preferring to get it done quickly in order to take a nap, which he was trying to do.

It made her shake her head with a small smile on her face, it was nice to know that even during war, certain quirks never changed.

After ten minutes of boredom she crossed her legs and began meditating. She had been in this era for eighteen months and they were eighteen every interesting months.

.

.

.

(Flashback)

_Jiraiya and Naruto were at home, Naruto trying to draw some seals on her arm whereas Jiraiya was brushing up on his fuinjutsu. Apparently, having a seven year old be better than him at the craft was insulting to his pride despite her reminding him that she mentally twenty-one no._

_That did little to appease him so she reminded him she was the daughter of two fuinjutsu masters, bearing the blood of Konoha no Kiiro Senko and Akai Chishio no Habanero, which did make him feel better._

_She was halfway through her seals when he asked a question, "If you wanted to seal a bijuu in a person, how what type of seal would you use?"_

_She paused for a moment then carried on, "It would depend on the bijuu that will be sealed away. I hold the nine tails so having the eight trigrams seal was the best choice. If I were to seal Shukaku I'd use a two point seal with a mind separator that gives Shukaku his own space to talk without you having to hear him- unless you opened the seal."_

_There was silence after that as Jiraiya thought about it and ripped the page out of his book and Naruto assumed he was going to put it on his failed pile but instead he put it in front of her on the table, "I need help." He grudgingly mumbled._

_She looked over at the seal with furrowed brows and put down her brush for the moment. The seal was fancy, something she never really cared for but the fanciness made it less chakra intensive- something she didn't need to mind given her bottomless reserves of chakra._

_Yet, looking at the seal, something seemed off. This wasn't a bijuu sealing type like they had been discussing, "This is a seal for… sealing away memories- or chakra?" she wasn't too sure, she would have to fully dissect it to find out however Jiraiya nodded._

" _Both. Chakra remembers as does the body so if you seal away part of a person's chakra and their memory- it'd be a great help for infiltration."_

_She furrowed her bros at the logic, "If you get rid of their memories, how will they complete the infiltration?"_

" _That's what I want help with. I can only make a memory eraser seal- I want a suppression or a block instead. This way, if they are questioned the seal can be activated and they will forget for a certain amount of time."_

_They carried on discussing seals for several hours, going from this seal to many other till they ended up once again at a bijuu seal. the eight trigrams._

_Nodding to herself she raised a brow and stood up, "You know if you want to study the eight trigram seal, you have an active one right here."_

_She lifted the bottom on her shirt up to reveal her stomach before channelling chakra to the seal, making it appear. Jiraiya looked up at her seal before going back to his scroll, "We may have a full version of the seal, but right now I am helping Minato with this. I will need full reports of my progress and not just an end result or he will get very suspicious. And on another note; your training seems to be going very well. You have excellent chakra control for a child your age and are able to absorb extra chakra from nature as well. However I wouldn't try to merge the two till you turn at least 10. That's my minimum for you becoming a sage again."_

" _You know… Even though I'm in this body I can sort of use old man six paths sage powers."_

_Jiraiya pointed his brush at her, a stern look in his eyes causing them to harden, "Absolutely not. Sage mode takes a lot out of a person and it can stunt your growth if not handled carefully. 10 years old Naruto. Or I'll seal your chakra points from absorbing nature's chakra." With that he went back to work, muttering about blondes and recklessness._

" _You mutter a lot more in this time than you did when I was travelling with you as a teenager." That seemed to be Jiraiya's last straw as he glared at her and released a small amount of KI. Naruto chose the best course of action: to not annoy him further._

(END OF FLASHBACK)

.

.

.

The day after the two of them went to dinner with Kushina, Minato and team Minato together and that was a terrible combination when they were discussing seals. They had gone on for over an hour before the four of them even remembered there was dinner to be eaten.

Sheepishly they looked at the three other members of team Minato who looked murderous before they apologised profusely and got on with dinner. Dinner talk of course consisted of even more fuinjutsu talk much to the others annoyance to which they had changed the subject to kekkei-genkai.

The topic started off by Kushina offering to help Naruto to attempt to create her chakra chains and even though Naruto thought it wasn't possible for her, she decided to give it a shot

On the subject of kekkei-genkai- a certain Uchiha had been placed next to her during the exam and was causing her sharingan eye to activate continuously. Despite all her hard chakra work, getting control over her eye was taking its toll on her.

Looking over at him, she saw he was looking directly at her, hand raised as their sensei was standing next to them giving them a waiting look and by the looks of it, she was holding back her irritation.

Grinning nervously she handed over her test paper to Shisui who gave it to their sensei and she sat back at her desk, watching them. She half expected them to be released for having completed the exam early however no such luck.

Just as she was about to give up hope on being allowed out of the exam room their sensei announced they could leave and the three people who completed the exam left together. Tadase left to presumably watch some clouds on top of the school roof or their training fields as they still had the second and third part of the exams to complete.

This left Shisui and Naruto, including her hidden twitching eye to go on together or their own ways.

Her eye hadn't been a bother after she had spent some time with him however it had been acting up ever since he had been doing chakra exercises.

In her original time line Shisui had gained the sharingan when he was roughly 7 as he had unlocked the mangekyou when he was 8. That would most likely not happen this time round though. Her mere presence was enough to cause several changes and she was at a loss at time whether they were for better or worse.

.

.

.

The ninjutsu part of her exam had been to make a bunshin, expel a genjutsu, perform a kawarimi, perform a henge and walk up tree as much as you could. She managed all of them with little problem and was tied with Shisui on two thirds up the tree- only she made kage-bunshin instead of ordinary bunshin. No matter how many chakra exercises she went through, there was no getting past the chakra of the nine tails, who enjoyed messing around her reserves time to time.

Taijutsu had been a bit of a problem as she was smaller than everyone in her class and her muscles weren't as developed as theirs were. Despite this she managed to make it to third tied with their Akimichi classmate. Shisui had been the first in taijutsu as well.

Her classmates here seemed to take shinobi life a lot more serious than her own had and she was very happy over that little fact. It meant the likelihood of them dying was a lot less than her own generations had been.

As they walked outside, Naruto was in the mind-set that she would go home alone and see Jiraiya there and make lunch with him before heading off to Minato's apartment and staying there for the night.

However that didn't seem to be the current case as a very bored and very irritated Kakashi stood leaning against the wall of the gate, surrounded by a bunch of girls.

Sighing she tried to dodge being seen by the elder however she had no such luck. She saw him take a quick whiff of the air and immediately moved his head to where she was, making his way through the throngs of girls and over to Naruto, Shisui and Iruka.

She hadn't been paying very much attention to what Iruka had been saying when she had seen Kakashi however she knew it was about how hard the exam was, yet had stated his thanks to his two friends in helping him to study for it beforehand.

Before long Kakashi had reached them, ignored the other two and looked her dead in the eye, "Sensei and Lord Jiraiya have been summoned to Mount Myoboku for some reason. Mikoto-san is staying in the hospital with Itachi over night so you're staying at my place tonight."

Whilst Kakashi meant only good things when he said that, the fangirls surrounding them who had heard only paid attention to the fact that a girl was staying at Kakashi's home the night. No one seemed to pay heed to the fact she was seven nor to the fact that Kakashi was only ten turning eleven.

Sighing she allowed herself to be dragged by the wrist away to wherever Kakashi seemed to be taking her. Of course she made sure to drag Shisui with her who gave a dumbfounded Iruka a tentative wave back with a shrug, as if saying 'what ya' gonna do?'

Together the three of them made their way over to Kakashi's family's training grounds which weren't far from the Hatake estate which was no longer in use.

Kakashi promptly turned around and looked at them, boredom on his face, "Do you two want to read a fuinjutsu book with me?" she asked when neither of them moved, simply staring directly at her.

Nodding the three of them took out brushes, ink and a book each before studying a simple sealing book. Well it wasn't that simple, she was currently studying her own seal; the eight trigrams and she was going to get as much feedback from outside parties who held no bias on it.

Shisui wasn't terrible at fuinjutsu but he wasn't good at it either. His calligraphy writing was good for someone of his age group, most likely due to strict teachings from the Uchiha clan similar to the Hyuuga clan.

She broke down the seal for them and answered all their questions and asked a few of her own about the seal and they did so to the best of their abilities. It was hard not to reveal which bijuu she was jinchuriki to however she managed.

Thinking of jinchuriki she slipped into her mindscape.  _'Kurama.'_  She murmured to the nine tails, who was resting on eight of his tails, the ninth stretched out to her and she allowed it to wrap around her torso only to have Kurama place her a top of his.

' _What is it Naruto?'_

' _I was wondering about mum… she's a jinchuiki but I want to know what happened to her?'_  it came out as a question as she wasn't sure how to word it however she managed to word it appropriately enough for him to understand her.

' _Hmm… we have been in the past for over a year now and you only ask me this question now?'_

His question caused her to blush a feint pink.  _'You were asleep for a long time and when you woke up I had other things on my mind dattebayo!'_

' _What a lovely daughter.'_  He chuckled humourlessly and answered her,  _'Well… when we arrived here there were two versions of me of course so during my temporary hibernation your seal proved to be dominant and forced the nine tails within her to merge with me. It is another reason why I did not awake sooner, I was trying to make sure I did not damage your chakra system even more._

' _Of course she is still my jinchuriki and only part of my chakra returned, however Kushina is still able to draw upon my chakra as you are able to do. Slowly through time most of my chakra will end up inside of you and I suspect if Obito attack the night of your birth then I will completely merge in with you instead of being pulled out.'_

Naruto nodded her head in understanding. It made sense, the two of them had done nothing to draw out the other Kurama so there should have been no reason for the two to merge, it did unsettle her though, that she would at some point in time have two versions of Kurama's chakra within her.

' _Don't think about it too much brat, even as hokage thinking hard didn't suit you.'_

' _Teme! I was a hunter nin for years! Thinking was part of the job!'_

' _Hmm… which job did you prefer? Your job within the dark recess of the elemental nations or the one that put much spotlight on you?'_

She took a moment to think about it. Back when she was a Hunter no one know her identity, no one knew what she did and hardly anyone could tell her what to do or how to do it. Where-as, as the hokage her actions were there for everyone to see, however everyone acknowledged everything she had done.

Her answer was clear,  _'My hunter job. No one knew the most wanted was me and no one told me how to do my job. Working alone had its perks and I very much miss working alone.'_  She sighed wistfully as she thought back to her hunter days.

Hardly anyone had known she was a hunter, the only ones knowing were the hunter commander, Lady Tsunade, Jiraiya and Kakashi sensei. She suspected Captain Yamato might have known as well however he never said anything.

It was dirty work, being a hunter and one had to have seen the darkest parts of the world in order to have become a hunter. No one had known she had made chunin and jonin except for the previously mentioned as well as Neji and Shikamaru. She had gone through the formalities again when she became hokage of course however those had been on the spot promotions which everyone had known about.

After the Sasuke retrieval mission she had made chunin and a few months later she had made jonin.

Under Jiraiya's insistence Tsunade had cracked and allowed Naruto to become a hunter nin, of course she had to undergo the hunter test and she passed with flying colours. Nothing quite says controlled insanity more than Naruto's screwed up life.

She made her way back to normal time and was very pleased that it had only been a few seconds outside of her mind.

Shaking her head, she went back to work with the other two males, taking out some other materials to study as well.

.

.

.

A week later and Naruto found herself running on rooftops around Konoha, trying to get away from a screaming Anko armed with kunai yelling she was going to skewer the blonde.

In retaliation Naruto simply stuck her tongue out and ran faster. There was a mix of emotions from the onlookers. The civilian populace were looking astonishingly at them where as the ninja populace had fond looks on their faces.

You didn't get to say many children acting like children due to the war and it made them happy to see, even if one of them was threatening to decapitate the other, laughter was in the air and hopefully it will be contagious.

.

.

.

 

  

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look who’s back. I did quite a bit of this chapter earlier today but then Microsoft had a mental breakdown and deleted it so I had to redo the last part. Other than that it’s currently snowing a lot here and I’ve been very sick, taking lots of time off work however I hadn’t been able to concentrate long enough to write. :( . I tried and failed.
> 
> As you see I’ve made another change to the original time line about Naruto however I will justify it later on!
> 
> Well I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I hope you stick around for the next one!
> 
> Till next time!


	15. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N. In reply to a comment on my AO3 account I will explain something.
> 
> The hunter corps was something I kind of made up. I took the name from the wave mission when Haku pretended to be a Hunter however I changed it up quite a bit.
> 
> Imagine ninja who have undergone a lot of crap such as torture, rape abuse physically and psychologically, what happens to those people? There have been many wars, so on one can say their ninjas haven’t undergone such things so what happens? They would clearly feel out-casted and alone especially since there aren’t any therapists for ninjas. So I made the hunter corps where those people would be in.
> 
> Hunters work alone and sometimes with others, they have a commander and basically work like ANBU but not at the same time. They have missions that are more dangerous than ANBU especially since they do them alone.
> 
> I hope that cleared things up a bit.

A few hours after being chased Naruto managed to give Anko the slip by entering the one place a genin wouldn't voluntarily venture; the academy.

It had been a full week since she and the others had taken the exam and now it was time for them all to be placed into teams. She wondered who she was going to be placed with from her class and who her teacher would be. She hoped it wasn't one of her darling brother's fangirls. Even the elder generation, whilst a lot more… professional, were not exempt from ogling her brother.

Once she made her way safely inside she took her usual seat beside the window next to Shisui who was already there, talking to a very emotional Iruka.

"I really hope I passed! I don't think I could bare it if I had to go a year without you and Naru!"

She chuckled causing Iruka to whine further, "Iruka. You'll be fine. You revised with Shisui and me a lot and we taught you everything in a fun way for you to remember. Now whilst I don't believe you got a very high result that doesn't mean you didn't get a somewhat good one. I'm sure you revised before the exam as well, right?"

At her question the other boy began to fidget causing Shisui and Naruto to squint their eyes at him till he caved and fessed up. "Okay! I didn't revise before the exam! But I have a reason!" he raised his hands and paused them from asking anything. "My mum was really ill and dad was out of the village on a mission. I was the only one around to look after her. That's why I didn't revise."

He looked scared as he regarded the two of them who simply looked at each other before sighing and nodding their heads. "Since you mother was ill then I guess you have a valid excuse. However, if you don't pass this test Iruka, you'll have to suffer a year with the younger-class-men. And let me tell you, they all have sticks firmly lodged up their-"

"Namikaze-san I'm sure I speak for the whole class when I say we would prefer it if you kept your mouth shut if you intend to use vulgar language." The three of them looked down to see none other than Shizu Yamanaka glaring at her whilst her friend, Hitomi Harumo nodded her head.

Naruto tilted her head, "I wasn't talking to you nor to the rest of the class so I don't see how it is any of your or their business how I talk."

"Whether it is our business or not, we would prefer not to hear such vulgar things."

This caused a loud laugh to escape Naruto's mouth as she looked at the two girls. Shizu looked like you typical Yamanaka, light blonde hair, blue eyes and pale skin. She was pretty, but nowhere near as pretty as Ino had been. Shizu wore the standard medical kunoichi outfit, similar to the one RIn wore however hers was branded with the Yamanak clans crest on the back.

Hitomi on the other hand was her exact opposite. She had dark brown hair and hazel eyes, whilst wearing standard orphanage clothes. She felt for the girl, when she had been her age she had hated wearing them, the brand on the back showing off to everyone that they had no parent. However despite Hitomi's somewhat common features she was very beautiful, and could easily ensnare anyone she met with the right training or thought.

"You don't know vulgar till you've been out in the world. I can be far cruder if I want to be and there's not a damn thing you can do about it. Sure you can tell sensei and she'll give me a warning not to do it again, but what good will that do. When we go on missions we will see horrific things, hear horrific things and do horrific things. If you can't stomach me swearing then, why are you even in this line of work?" she raised a brow at her, genuinely curious of what her reason might be.

"I plan on following the steps of my clan-"

"The Yamanaka clan are known for their work on the human psyche. Psychology and what makes a person tick are what interests you people, therefore you would have to see the world from another person's view in order to understand them. I'm sure you'll hear a lot more than swearing whilst you do that."

"Very well said Namikaze-san." Everyone turned their heads to the door where their sensei and TA stood. "You make a very valid point. Even as a teacher I see horrible things, a medic sees horrible things, and warriors see horrible things. The Yamanaka clan sees a combination of these things and they cannot waver. The same goes for everyone else here.

"We are at war. You will see people die and they may be your comrades, your friends or your family. People will be tortured and people will suffer the consequences of the actions of others. This is the world of shinobi. No matter what happens you must not waver. You must never forget our hokage is here to protect us, to guide us and to help us in our time of need. The will of fire shines through all of you, some more than others however given time I am sure you will all burn very brightly indeed.

"Within the following years you may have to kill friends and foes alike and whether or not you like it is of no consequence. This is the life you have chosen and it is the life you will have to abide by. Everyone has their own nindo, find yours, and stick to it." She paused and looked at everyone who were wide eyed, including Naruto. She had never seen any of her sensei give such a straight to the point speech except for perhaps Kakashi sensei when he was saying Sasuke needed to die.

"Right!" their sensei clapped her hands, giving them all a bright smile as she picked up her clip board. "I will now read out the names of the people who passed their exams as well as who they will be teamed with. Everyone will be placed in a four man cell consisting of three genin and one jonin instructor. In a short while your jonin instructors will take you for your first team meeting."

She gave everyone a once over to see that everyone was there, nodding to herself she began listing everyone, "Kotetsu Hagane, Izumo Kamizuki and Tokara! You three pass and are on team Akihiro. Tadase Nara, Shizu Yamanaka and Mizuki! You three pass and are on team Daichi. Hayate Gekko, Aoi Inuzuka and Doto Akimichi! You three pass and are on team Sugi. Hitomi Harumi, Akihiko Hyuuga and Shiro Aburame! You three pass and are on team Katsuo. Iruka Umino, Shisui Uchiha and Naruto Namikaze! Yo three pass and are on team Kushina."

Naruto payed no mind to the rest of the class, who they were teamed with nor who their sensei's were. She was too busy focusing on the fact her mother was her jonin instructor. And the fact she was paired up with her closest friends. She wasn't sure which one of the two situations she was happier about.

She paid little attention to Iruka as he bubbled about how happy he was having passed and being with the two of them but then Naruto noticed something. In her old timeline Hayate had been on the same team as Tokara however this time the latter was paired with Izumo and Kotetsu.

It was often hard for her to remember that things would change a lot and not all of them would necessarily be for the better, and they still managed to shock her system thoroughly. Again, the shocks weren't necessarily bad things either. They meant her plan to bring peace was coming closer.

Naruto sunk into her mindscape knowing Kushina was currently in a meeting with the hokage and wouldn't be out for at least another hour, leaving her plenty of time to have a conversation with the bijuus.

' _Why Gyuuki. Welcome to my humble abode. What brings you here?_ ' she smirked at the eight tails currently being ignored by his elder brother.

' _Naruto. I'm here to see who you were set with for your genin team. Kurama here refuses to allow me to see with him.'_

' _You are not her bijuu so you do not need to see.'_

' _But she is still the mother of bijuu.'_

' _Bah. You all gave her that name, not I. To me she is an infernal little brat you pokes her nose into everything.'_

' _Hey!'_  she yelled, however neither of them paid her any heed.

' _Come on Kurama. Sure she only gave us back our memories a few weeks ago however we all know she would be the perfect person to look after the younger two. You know what trouble Shukaku and Matatabi get into. And don't get me started on Isobu.'_

' _She is but a child herself and you intend to make her our mother?'_

' _You do not need to see her as you mother however the way she looked after and consoled us all after the fourth war had us all set.'_

' _Do I get a say in this?!'_

Once again neither of the two bijuu listened, instead Kokuo and Saiken decided to join them. She hadn't even noticed their arrival meaning they must have just arrived, there was no way they could have entered her mind without her feeling it beforehand.

' _Saiken. Tell me you do not agree with the octopus!'_  Kurama and Gyuuki both turned at looked to the slug demon.

' _I have to agree. She is the first human to show us such kindness and knows how to handle us, respectfully, like a mother. We all call her the mother of bijuu, since she cannot have children of her own.'_

At the reminder of her infertility Naruto yelled,  _'Enough!'_  finally she had the attention from the others in her mindscape and she was glaring at them before closing her eyes and taking deep breaths before reopening her eyes.  _'I was paired with iruka, Shisui and Kushina. I am not longer technically infertile since my body did not go through the same things as it did when I was ten before. I am in my seven year old body after all. I may act like you mother but please don't call me that in public or to your jinchuriki. And for the love of god, don't go arguing in my head whenever you disagree over something. It's still me head and gives me a lot of headaches.'_

Once again she took deep breaths before continuing,  _'Now that I have answered Gyuuki… Saiken and Kokuo, what brings you here?'_

' _I cannot speak for Kokuo however I get bored. I have no current jinchuki and have no one to keep me company. That damned jar keeps me contained for the time.'_

Naruto nodded her head and waited for Kokuo to also reply,  _'Han was being difficult so I decided to stay here until he apologises.'_

Naruto sighed. Here she was surrounded by four of the most revered creatures in the elemental nations and all she could hear from them was bickering and childish behaviour.

She sighed again as she nodded, allowing them to stay in her mindscape under the condition they kept their bickering to a minimum as she made her way back to the land of the conscious.

.

.

.

**(A FEW MONTHS LATER: APRIL- 22 months)**

Obito watched as Naruto bickered with a calm and stoic Kakashi, Shisui sitting across from them not paying them any attention as he taught something to Iruka. Kushina and Jiraiya-sama had been dispatched for a three day mission together so Kakashi had been told to teach them in her stead, as he was too injured to go on the mission Team Minato often went on in the outskirts of the village.

The elder Uchiha was perched high up a tree not far from them in training ground fifteen, trying to hide from them. He wasn't spying on them, he was studying a scroll and testing his limit. Naruto was an amazing sensor and could no doubt sense Obito up in the tree however he was seeing how long it would take for Kakashi to notice his presence. He did think Kakashi could have sensed him and not paid it any heed as he was so used to the loud Uchiha's presence.

Shaking his head he tried to read the earth jutsu scroll in front of him but he couldn't concentrate on it. His mind went back to the discussion he had had with his teammates, minus Kakashi.

(FLASHBACK)

" _Kakashi may not notice this, but he is opening up a lot more these days." Spoke Minato sensei as he sat leaning against a tree, looking at Rin and Obito._

" _Really? He still seems like a bastard to me." grumbled Obito, wishing the subject to be anything other than Kakashi._

_Of course, no one paid any attention to what Obito had said, "Still, even if he is a little more open and sociable, that doesn't mean he can miss a team meeting sensei." Reprimanded Rin however Obito was sure she only said that because she wanted to see him._

_He looked down, trying his hardest to block out what they saying and focus on the earth scroll in front of him. He only managed for three seconds, "He has a lot on his plate with my sister here. She doesn't talk to me very much these days and spends most of her time with her team and Kakashi. If I'm correct for the next three days he'll be helping them train."_

" _But why sensei? Wouldn't it just be easier for team Kushina to train with us?" asked Rin as she completely abandoned the medical scroll she had been reading._

" _It would be… however Naruto seems to be on edge whenever I try to train her so I figured it'd be best he taught them…" his sentence faded off and he gave them a smile. Rin brought it however Obito could see how it didn't reach his sensei's eyes._

_Obito was the eldest of the younger three members of team Minato, and had faced a lot of crap. Sure, he didn't lose his father like Kakashi had as he had never met his parents, but he was the pariah of the Uchiha clan. People didn't like talking to him so he had a lifetime to watch people. He knew emotions even if some were foreign to him, he still managed to recognise them whenever he saw them._

_Minato sensei and Naruto weren't on good terms and she was avoiding him even though they had reconciled a few week prior. "I hate to interrupt but is it just me? I feel like we're being watched?" asked Obito as he began shifting in his seat, pointing to a tree several hundred yards from them._

_Not even a moment later a member of the ANBU black ops landed in front of them wearing a panda mask appeared and groaned, "Don't tell me you're teaching you students to sense us as well Minato? As if having your sister know where we are all the time isn't bad enough." Next to the panda operative another wearing a cat mask who nodded earnestly._

" _No… I'm not teaching anyone sensory abilities for another few months…" he looked at Obito with furrowed brows before shrugging and continued, "Wait, all the time? She doesn't exactly follow you guys to the ANBU headquarters so you should be happy about that at the very least!" he chuckled as if what he had said was funny however the ANBU weren't laughing._

" _No. you are correct she doesn't follow us to headquarters. She just tends to waltz right in and make herself at home, playing with our ninken there." Replied Cat dryly._

_This caused Minato sensei and the operatives to argue for a little while before he gave up, stating he would have a word with his sister and they left not long after._

_He looked over to Obito a short while after with a smile on his face, "Hey Obito… I have a new teaching method for you. Since you seems good at sensing, I'll give you some scrolls to read up on and I want you to… follow Naruto. And no I don't mean stalk. Just be close enough where she should be able to sense you but I want you to hide yourself completely. It'll be a good activity for the both of you, but mostly you. You have a lot of ninjutsu at your disposal mostly D and C ranks but we can work you put to B rank when your chakra reserves are bigger._

" _Then there's taijustu… Jiraiya-sensei teaches Naruto some pretty hard-core techniques so I'll ask him to let you in on their lessons for you to build upper body strength. Then you should be able to, as you say, kick Kakashi's arse sooner rather than later. How does that sound?"_

_Obito was unable to see his own expression however he was almost certain there were stars coming out of his eyes as he thought about knocking Kakashi off his high horse. He nodded his head vigorously as he went back to his scroll, the smile on his face not fading once during their training session._

(END OF FLASHBACK)

So here he was. Testing the limit to what he could do. He believed he was doing a good job so far and nothing anyone else said would make him think otherwise. He just wished he could do it without constantly glaring at Kakashi.

His teammate wasn't even doing anything however he couldn't stop his glaring. It was as if Kakashi was doing something he didn't want the chunin to do. All he had to do was try and figure it out however he wasn't having any success.

.

.

.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N I updated quick this time mostly because I’m bored. Well in case you haven’t read the top A/N it’s about what a hunter is.
> 
> I hope to see you soon! Don’t forget to leave a review of your thoughts. ;)


	16. Chapter 15

_**(**_

MARCH- 23 MONTHS

_**.** _

_**.** _

_**.** _

Naruto hated her life. There was no other way to describe her feelings.

' _ **You can do what I do and hate Uchiha's instead? It'll make you feel better.'**_  Suggested Kurama.

' _I do, oh I do. But sadly that doesn't mean I hate all of them. Just some.'_

' _ **And the Uchiha's currently in our company do not earn your hatred?**_ ' he groaned.

' _Sadly, no. Shisui was a loyal shinobi through and through. Obito on the other hand is… an awful lot like me when I was a kid.'_

' _ **May I remind you, you were pretending to be a ray of sunshine when in all honesty you were as depressing at this Kakashi is.'**_

' _True.'_  She didn't even try to deny it.

She bought herself out of her head and watched as Minato tried and failed to create the rasengan. He was doing it so wrong she was refraining from cringing.

"Why don't you break it up into three different steps?" she suggested when, once again his failed rasengan blew up.

He got up from his laying down position on the ground and looked at her. Despite the fact the rasengan was a chakra ball he somehow managed to catch fire to a spike of his hair. Thankfully Kakashi was on standby and got rid of the flame.

"What would you do break it down Naruto?" it was never a question if Naruto could or couldn't do something. Thanks to her having already been taught everything she was doing, it made her seem like some sort of prodigy.

She felt fake whenever they called her one, she was by far a prodigy. Although, thinking about the fact she had mastered sage mode within a month whilst Jiraiya and her father had spent longer on made her feel a lot better.

"Well… since your trying to get your chakra to rotate in several different directions I'd get something to show you're getting the right amount of rotation. So… a water balloon. When you spin the water in several directions that should break the balloon. That can be step one. But you mostly have that part down anyway. Just test it out."

Minato nodded and not even a moment later he hiraishined to the shopping district.

"I think Minato sensei just likes you show off. Like a lot." Said Obito who was sat next to her on a boulder in training ground 32.

"No argument there. How many none hand sign jutsu's does he have?" she asked. The topic of the yondaime had been her favourite however Iruka sensei hadn't gone over all the jutsu's the man had known. Only mentioning the hiraishin as it was a key to winning the third war.

"That shouldn't be our concern. Our concern should be what he intends to call it. We all know what his naming skills are like." Spoke Kakashi as he went over a stream of hand signs without using chakra, testing it out.

Naruto, Shisui and Obito shuddered. "What possesses him to name them what he does? What was that one he named the other day? Um… Spiralling flash super round dance howl style three?" she asked more than stated to which the boys of team Minato nodded, Obito more vigorously than Kakashi.

"I wish he'd listen to me when naming them but he insists the names make them far more remember-able." Grumbled Kushina. She had been told off by ero-sennin and was sulking next to a tree as the sennin sat down a few hundred yards from them, meditating.

"I can hear you Kushina. I shouldn't be able to you." Reminded Jiraiya and just as he said so he got up and signalled for Naruto to join him. She bid everyone farewell, giving everyone a kiss on the cheek as she did so- enjoying how everyone still blushed red like a rose.

Naruto sat atop of Jiraiya's shoulder as he took them to their apartment. Once there they changed their sandals for slippers and entered. Jiraiya had a map and other things sprawled across the dining table which he always made sure to move whenever it was time to eat.

Naruto had hardly ever paid attention to it however she noticed today there were a few circles across the map, "Hey ero-sennin. What are the circles for?"

Jiraiya came out from his bedroom clutching an ink jar and brush before looking at what she was referring to. Recognition dawned on his face as he sat down, "Well, it's mostly places we suspect Iwa and Kumo are keeping their supplies. We won't launch any attacks until we know for sure or at least have more information."

Naruto nodded as she furrowed her brows. As hokage, even though they were at peace, she had been told to read each and every report from the second and third war, and thanks to thousands of shadowclones she had managed to do so within two weeks.

She recalled reading where Iwa and Kumo had kept their supplies and where they had been transporting them from. It took her nearly three minutes before she recalled something, "Here, here and here. Ishi, Kusa and Mountains graveyard are where Iwa were keeping their weapons and… this one over here at the border of Taki and Iwa was where they were keeping a supply of food rations. Bridges also. I know lots of bridges were destroyed during the war but mostly Kannabi Bridge. That one was the key to winning the war." She stated as she made her way into the kitchen.

She had grown three full inches and a half during the past year thanks to a nutritious diet and milk so she no longer required help to reach for some things. It could also be because whatever she needed to reach had been moved to the lower draws so she wouldn't require help to reach them.

She looked in the fridge and sighed. Jiraiya had been out of the village for two weeks so there was hardly anything in the fridge or cupboards so she made a shadowclone and had it do some shopping whilst she tried to organise the mess Jiraiya called his desk.

.

.

.

MAY- 25 MONTHS

Team Kushina stood infront of the hokage in his office receiving their next mission. That alone was cause for alarm, only ANBU of Hunters received their missions from the hokage himself, and as far as Naruto was aware, none of them were either of those things.

"Team Kushina. Your mission will be a dangerous one and that is why you will be teamed with Team Choza as well as one of the sannin. You will all venture to the village hidden in the frost known as Shimogakure. What you will be doing, that information will be told to the leaders only."

"If you don't mind me asking lord third, why can't we know?" asked Iruka as he looked confusedly at the hokage.

Shisui was the one reply however, "In case we're compromised. Shimogakure is close to the land of lightning and we're currently at war with Kumogakure. If any of us are seen we will most likely to be taken and tortured to find out why we risked being so close."

"If we had the information they would get it and the entire mission would be jeopardized and could fall to ruin depending on what it is." She finished when Shisui didn't continue.

Iruka's eyes were wide when he asked, "Would they really torture a bunch of kids?"

Naruto shrugged apathetically, "Better to kill us young when we pose hardly any threat than to allow us to grow strong enough to kill  _them_." His eyes had yet to return to normal size yet he nodded his head in understanding.

War was hard and took its toll on people. This was her second war however the last one she had been a part of had only lasted a few days, this one was going to last years.

"Your mission starts two days from now as Team Choza is on break. This is a B rank and will last a month so pack supplies for that amount of time and make sure to pack warm. There will be no sun in the land of frost even in summer." He signalled they could leave so each of them bowed and left, heading in their own respective directions.

Kushina and Iruka heading to the family district whilst Naruto and Shisui heading to the Uchiha district.

Team Minato had left for a mission and Jiraiya had also been dispatched to the front lines however Naruto and Shisui were babysitting duty for Aunt Mikoto.

Everything she needed to pack was already in storage scrolls back at hers and Jiraiya's place under his insistence. She had four scrolls with a month worth of clothes in for each of the seasons, dry foods in a different scroll and weapons prepared in another. There was also one more scroll with emergency supplies such as an extra pair of boy clothes, spare weapons, makeup, medicine box and pills. Makeup, whilst sounding girly, was necessary when entering enemy territory without getting caught. Hiding her whisker marks, her blonde hair and Kushina's red hair had become very useful especially since the latter was known and wanted across the five nations.

She looked at the sky and guessed it was around noon, they had just finished arrived back in Konoha the evening before from a C rank and had been called in for the debriefing for their next mission. They weren't going to be needed for another hour at least so she dragged Shisui over to the newly opened Ichiraku Ramen.

It looked the same as she remembered however the cloth was whiter and the posters on the inside were a bit different in design however the menu hadn't changed much. Usually after missions the one teammate got to decide where they go for lunch or dinner and usually it was Ichiraku since three out of four members loved ramen however Naruto like to follow Shisui's footsteps and sometimes requested they go get barbeque or go to the Akimichi restaurant where there was a variety of everything except ramen.

The two sat and waited for their respective orders as they discussed the previous chunin exam. They hadn't taken part in the exam and Naruto was relieved. Despite a war going on she knew none of them were ready for such a promotion.

Genma, Ibiki and Anko had all made chunin however Rin and Obito hadn't much to their dismay. Obito had taken it the hardest as he had been training nonstop for a year with the regimen Jiraiya had given him. He hadn't listened to anyone till Jiraiya had wacked him over the head stating that even if he was taught by all three sennin it wasn't power they were looking at but traits in a person themselves.

As they finished and paid, making their way to the district she thought of how much her life changed since arriving. She missed her home yet at the same time she didn't. It had been that Konoha that had done so many wrongs by her and by many of her citizens yet this Konoha, her home, hadn't and it had potential to become something else. Something beautiful that even the darkest parts would be able to enjoy.

She didn't know when she stopped referring to the other Konoha as home and had instead done so to the one she was in now and it showed she had moved on, but not completely.

The Konoha she had been raised in had been her home, she had loved it, served it and protected it to her last breath and now even after death she protects it. Within this Konoha, her new home, she  _felt_  safe. She hadn't felt like that till after the fourth war, when Sasuke had returned and  _promised_  to keep her safe, had sworn on his brother's name he wouldn't allow anyone to harm her as she had been harmed as a child.

She didn't know when they arrived at the Uchiha main estate, nor had she realised she had changed her footwear. All she knew was toddler Itachi was tugging on the bandages around her lower leg.

She reached down instinctively and picked him up. His reaction was immediate, he smiled and let out a giggle as his cheeks grew pink. He took to one of his favourite activities when in her hold, tugging and pulling at her loose blonde locks. She didn't mind, the astonished and flabbergast look from Fugaku was enough to make her happy whenever the young Uchiha did those things.

She sat down when the matriarch came in with a tray of tea for them, telling them what they needed to know; when his last change was, when he last had a feed, when and how long he had last slept for. It took a few minutes but they managed to shoo the woman out of her home ten minutes before she was needed at her friend's house.

Itachi was a simple and easy to look after child, a lot was easier than the children she recalled babysitting for the D rank missions she had been subjected to.

By three o'clock Itachi had been fed, changed and put to sleep so the two of them left him in his cot, going outside only after Naruto left two clones with him.

The garden was beautiful with its simplicity. There were bushes lining the outer rim of the garden each trimmed into a perfect sphere, on one side there were home grown vegetables and the opposite side held a few colourful plants, and as per the standard Konoha garden, there were several trees of different sizes and different shades of green. The leaves were all a darker shade than the grass so whenever a leaf fell, it was easy to tell and move out of the way or use to trip someone over.

Namely Shisui.

As they were often together they often trained and studied, which of course left Iruka upset that he couldn't join them to which they stated he preferred the company of his family than the two of them. Usually they had a third person with them; Kakashi, Obito, Minato, Kushina, Mikoto or a member of their graduating class.

Out of the fifteen teams that had passed the initial test five made it to genin, the highest number ever. Naruto had raked her memory and she didn't recall anything like this happening and chalked it down to one of the many changes that occurred because of her being there. The maximum during the war had been four.

When she asked Jiraiya if he thought the others were ready he had said, "No one is ever ready for war. However, they know what to do, they are also being led by very competent shinobi who have years of experience. Each jonin instructor took part in the second war and will not allow any harm to intentionally befall their students."

His answer hadn't reassured her in the least, in fact she questioned if he was even in his right mind to say something like that. Taking on a genin team wasn't easy, one had to have lots of mental stability not because genin were brats or hard to look after. No. you needed the stability because of the loss. No one was invincible, one little mistake or oversight could lead to disaster. Take Kakashi, Obito had 'died' during Kannabi bridge then Rin had jumped in front of his chidori. He blamed himself for both of their deaths and then his rocks, Minato and Kushina had been killed as well.

Kakashi lost everyone he loved in such a short amount of time, and within his grief he immersed himself in the darkest depth of the shinobi world. Yet he had still taken on a team even though he could have lost any of them.

She didn't understand any of this till she had taken Konohamaru as her unofficial apprentice and she understood somewhat what it must have been like during the mission in Wave. Seeing Sasuke, who looked dead and seeing Naruto lose control over himself must has stopped the man's heart, yet he never faltered.

"Hey Naruto are you paying attention?" she was shaken, literally, out of her own little world by Shisui who was holding her shoulders in a vice grip.

"Sorry, sorry. I got lost in my head for a bit there." He nodded his head in understanding, she did that a lot after all.

He sat back down with a book, scroll and some ink, "I need help with this one. I'm not sure what it is I'm looking at." He groaned slightly just looking at it and when Naruto had a look she understood why.

Being the students of Kushina Uzumaki had its perks, namely she enjoyed teaching them fuinjutsu, which was a topic she hadn't had much research material on the last time.

"Well… It looks to be a barrier seal?" she asked more than stated, it was another seal she hadn't seen before but she could see the writing at summarised what she understood.

"You don't sound too confident." He replied, chewing his lip piercing- well more of a chakra rod which Pein had. Each member of the team had one besides Kushina, who had her upper ear pierced. It was similar to what the Ino-Shika-Cho trio did but Naruto liked it. A piercing to forever bind their team.

They used chakra rods which were all linked by fuinjutsu so should you charge chakra into the rod, it would release a distress signal to the other rods, the closer you were to the rod in distress the more chakra went into it.

She remembered meeting Shisui's dad for the first time, the day they had gotten their piercings, the man's face had been comical. His face was mostly blank however by Uchiha standards it was dramatic. His eyes widened by a fraction, mouth slightly open and Naruto was sure the man would have activated the sharingan and given a lecture had Kushina not intervened.

"I don't know for sure… Well!" she clapped her hands and began to rub them together, eyes twinkling, "We're just gonna have to break it down now aren't we?!" with that the two of them got to work.

now aren't we?!" with that the two of them got to work.


	17. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N- Okay. Due to a few people pointing out this flaw in my story, I’ve fixed it. Yahiko died after Obito became Madara so I’ve changed that little detail in chapters 2, 4 and 12.
> 
> One thing about Kishimoto’s timeline is the Ame three were the same age, Yahiko died when he was 15 so unless he was 2 or 3 years younger than the other two I really don’t see how he died after/at the end of the war. Somebody, explain it to me, because I’m going out of my mind trying to figure this out.
> 
> Anyway onto the story!

Naruto hated Shimogakure. Hated it with a passion just as she hated Danzo. Even with her body temperature running higher than the average person's the village was cold like the land of iron.

Snow covered the land and trees, however tree walking wasn't an issue with the use of chakra so they made it to their destination half a day before they needed to be there. It helped that Orochimaru didn't allow them many breaks only resting when it was dark out.

However despite the cold weather she was on high alert and it wasn't because they were practically in enemy territory. No, it was because that damnable snake was watching her every move and she knew he knew that she knew he was watching, yet he did nothing about it. She tried to ignore it, tried focusing on the discussion Team Kushina and team Choza were having with Anko yet she could feel those yellow eyes bearing holes into her, as if gazing into her soul.

Finally she had enough, she turned to look at him with a heated glare, "What is your problem? Why the hell do you keep staring at me?" all conversation stopped as everyone watched the two of them.

Instead of answering her straight away he licked his lips and his eyes began to glow. "I enjoy puzzles. And you Naruto Namikaze are a very great puzzle."

Unbeknownst to her, she shuffled closer to Shisui and Iruka shuffled closer to her, "Yeah well, quit staring. I don't like being looked at as if I'm a lab experiment, I don't care how much you love to do them either." she added when he drew in closer.

"You are truly puzzling. You have large chakra reserves for a child your age and have very good control over it. If I didn't know you were a Namikaze I'd wager you were a Senju or Uzumaki." He gave a pointed look at Kushina and Naruto paled.

"I'm half Uzumaki. My mother was an Uzumaki and my father Minato's dad." She snapped, not wanting him to draw to the conclusion of her being Kushina's daughter.

"Would you mind a blood sample? I should very much like to run some-"

She cut him off before he could continue, "The only way you're getting a blood sample from me is if I don't give my consent. I don't like my blood being looked at and you won't go near me with any of your damn needles either."

"Kukuku… I will get a blood sample one way or another. This is a dangerous mission and we're on enemy territory. You'll bleed during this mission and I'll get a sample then."

"If you can catch her before she heals." Muttered Iruka and Naruto jabbed him with her elbow. She didn't need Orochimaru to know she healed quickly, that would draw way too much attention to her from the sennin and she wanted none of it.

"I mean no offence Lord Orochimaru, however you are… unsettling to my student." Spoke Kushina in a kind voice however the smile on her face was cold and made everyone's back, except Orochimaru, straighten.

The arrival of a gama caught her attention and by the turning of her head, the others followed her line of vision. She furrowed her brows when the gama went to Orochimaru instead of her, "Message for you." He gave Orochimaru a scroll he had in his mouth before jumping onto Naruto for a pat and she gave it along with a sweet before returning to Mount Myoboku.

Orochimaru ordered they get some rest and would be woken for their shifts in turn. They went into their tents, three per tent and each in their own sleeping bags. It was going to be a long and cold night for them.

.

.

.

Naruto woke up how she usually did on long missions, with Iruka and Shisui cuddled into her; Iruka on her back and Shisui in her stomach, literally. The Uchiha had a habit of lowering himself in his sleep and clinging onto her stomach, both of the boys trying to absorb as much warmth as they could and Naruto was normally their radiator.

Orochimaru, Choza and Kushina had left them to go and deal with business up ahead which, details were not given. They had left the two chunin, Anko and Genma, in charge. If anything should happen Anko could use a snake summon to alert the sennin and they would come immediately and Naruto could do the same with her toads.

Team Kushina had another trick up their sleeve, curtesy of Kushina. She had placed seals on each of them, when pumped with a small amount of chakra it would alert the other seals that that person was in distress. It was only to be used in emergencies and so far none of them had had a use for it, they all prayed they would have no use for it either.

She got up just as Genma entered the tent, the boy raised a brow and pointed his head for her to leave the tent to go on her shift.

Disentangling herself from Shisui she got up and stretched outside, groaning at the kink in her back from the awkward position the boys always put her in.

She sat down next to Gai who was being very quiet thanks to his professional persona whilst on missions, which Naruto was thankful for. She wouldn't know what to do if the enemy heard Gai's boisterous voice yelling about youth so close to their base.

She took her meditating pose and began to reach out her senjutsu to sense if anything or anyone was approaching, managing to reach out all the way to what she assumed was a Kumo base. She muttered under her breath, to her they were way too close for comfort even though they were a half day's march from them.

She opened her eyes as Ebisu and Anko left their tents, "There's an enemy camp a half day's march from here. I can't sense anyone close to us but I'm not great with my senjutsu yet, if someone was hiding their presence completely I wouldn't be able to tell since there's a lot of animals here, including summoning animals, which have a lot of chakra."

Anko bit her lip as she cursed under her breath, "We were given orders to stay here, and that's what we'll do. Keep on guard though, and carry on with the sensor thingy. You're our only way of knowing if we're going to get ambushed. I'll send out my snake summons to Orochimaru-sensei to let him know and we'll be given orders accordingly." No one argued with her, she was a chunin along with Genma and their opinions were needed.

Naruto would have much preferred to just storm over to where the enemy camp was and tear them limb by limb however she had to remind herself she wasn't a hunter-nin anymore. It hadn't been a problem when she first arrived, however discussing war strategies with Jiraiya, going out for mission and doing ninjutsu training seemed to have put her back into the hunter mind-set and that would most likely get people killed more than keep them safe.

She closed her eyes after she nodded and carried on releasing her senjutsu, there was something wrong. Shimogakure was the only way Kumo could get in or out of their country unless they went by water in which case they would be intercepted by Kiri so that was out of the question.

So where were all of Kumo's camps?

Biting her lip she entered her mindscape to be greeted by Kurama in a lotus position caused her brows to raise, Kurama only ever did that when he needed to concentrate.

' _What's up Kurama?'_

He didn't answer straight away and opened his eyes, eyeing her appearance despite the fact she was there only a half hour ago.  _ **'You cannot sense the enemy however I can.'**_

Her brows furrowed,  _'Odd… where are they?'_

' _ **A lot closer than you think. I can feel a barrier around them. That is why you cannot sense them.'**_

' _Barriers have never stopped me from sensing before. What's different about this one?'_

' _ **It is not the barrier but you. I'm blocking some of my chakra from you and have been since trying to merge with the version of me within your mother.'**_

' _What by the shodai for?'_  she asked confused as she sat against one of her trees.

He grumbled,  _ **'It's more corrosive since that version has a lot more anger to vent out. Once I've tamed the chakra I'll let it flow bit by bit into you. Till then, you'll have to come to me for sensing the hidden.'**_

She sighed and nodded. She didn't like it, but she didn't have much choice in the matter. Once upon a time Kurama's chakra would burn her and travelling back in time had caused that to happen again.

She opened her eyes which she hadn't noticed she had closed, alarm evident in them,  _'How close are Kumo's ninjas?!'_

Kurama flinched slightly, having forgot to tell her,  _ **'… a few hours away at best, depending on how fast they travel.'**_

Her eyes, if possible, seemed to widen further before she left her mindscape and stood up in the real world, causing everyone to jostle at her sudden movements, "Kumo are a lot closer than I thought. They're using a moving barrier seal and are less than a few hours from here." She stated causing all eyes to widen.

Anko stood at attention and immediately summoned two snakes and ordered they go and inform the snake sennin of Naruto's findings. Whilst she did so Naruto woke up the three boys, Iruka, Shisui and Genma. They were groggy to do so however after stating the enemy was a mere few hours away at best they bolted right up and got ready in record time.

"We can't stay." Spoke Genma when everyone was assembled, drawing in everyone's attention. "If what Naruto says is true, and I believe it is, we don't stand a chance. The enemy will most likely have jonin there and all we have are three chunin and four genin." He waited to look at everyone before his expression turned grim, "We're going to have to move south-west back in the direction where we came. Orochimaru-sama showed us all a place to meet up if anything should happen and we'll go there." He paused once again and only continued when he received nods and understanding grunts.

"Anko-san has already sent her snake summons to inform them so they should be on their way as soon as possible-"

"I really hate to interrupt but they're getting closer." Spoke Naruto causing everyone to whip their heads to her, "I assumed the snow would slow them down but it seems it doesn't bother them nearly as much as it does us. One hour, less if they keep up that pace."

Anko and Genma cursed under their breaths and the latter bit his senbon harder before nodding stiffly. "Pack up, quickly." Was the only thing he said before doing just that.

Naruto made ten clones to help hasten their departure, removing any evidence that they were even there. Ten minutes after the order was given, the fire had been put out and hidden, their tents put away, their sleeping equipment had been sealing along with it and they jumped into the trees, giving them somewhat of a home-court advantage. Kumo was mostly mountains without many trees meaning they should be able to get out of harm's way, barely.

She hoped.

.

.

.

Naruto hated her life, however that wasn't news to her, she had always hated her life. One could debate she had more hatred within her life than Sasuke did and that was saying something.

They had been doing well, running through the snow covered trees and gaining quite some distance from Kumo's ninjas, however Naruto hadn't sensed this, nor had Kurama.

They had been so focused on looking out for ninja's they forgot to be wary of summons. As soon as they had been attacked, they fought back, allowing a handful of Kumo jonin to attack them.

Naruto had no time to summon any of her gama and Anko was in a similar situation as she fought off a tall male.

She was jolted out of her gazing when she barely managed to dodge a kunai aimed to her jugular. She landed in a couch as she glared through squinted eyes, pumping her feet with chakra and from behind slit her from her shoulder to the small of her back.

She turned around, allowing the woman to simply bleed to death by one of her poisoned kunai. She went through the necessary hand signs and used the gale palm, forcing the enemy away from Iruka and Ebisu.

Her eyes widened when she sensed someone behind her and managed to escape getting completely cut down and instead getting a large gash on her hip. She discreetly made a few shadow-clones and had them attack with her, the woman didn't manage to dodge them all and Naruto took that chance to stab her through the stomach, leaving a large hole in her and allowed her to simply bleed to death, the poison on her kunai making sure she'd be unable to move.

She whipped her head round when she heard Ebisu scream only to see that he had been stabbed through the arm, Gai attacking the offender with one of his kicks. She couldn't pay much attention as she was given a surprise attack from underneath and before she could think about how odd it was, the man lashed out.

He was holding a sword the size of the executioner's blade and his face was covered by white mask, meaning he was from Kumo's ANBU.

The man struck again with his sword and that was when she noticed he wasn't very good at using it, meaning he didn't specialize in kenjutsu and was trying to distract her. Landing in a crouch a few meters from his she made six clones and together they used vacuum serial waves, cutting him in several places before she charged Kurama's chakra through her arm and pierced it through his heart.

He fell forwards with a thud and Naruto released his still beating heart from her hand. Looking back to Ebisu she was he was covered in his own blood as was the ground below him. Gai was fighting off another offender with Shisui whilst Anko, Iruka and Genma fought off another person.

Naruto heard a feint heartbeat coming from the person Gai had knocked unconscious and walked over to her. She swallowed the bile in her throat and stabbed the woman through her neck and throat, killing her. Ebisu looked at her wide eyed yet didn't say anything due to the pain in his arm.

She frowned and as she was about to bandage his arm up an arm shot through her stomach. She coughed up a small trickle of blood as she turned her face to glare at the offender, seeing another Kumo ninja.

The bastards didn't know when to give up. If possible, Ebisu's eyes widened and she heard Iruka yell her name however she was having a bad enough day and dispelled one of her clones from Mount Myoboku, entering sage mode. She pushed forwards and turned to her side, kicking the man in the chest before grasping her stomach. Kurama was going to have a hard time healing that up quickly, thankfully she didn't need to use his chakra in sage mode nor could she soldiered on.

She cursed when she remembered she couldn't use the rasengan nor the rasenshuriken since Minato still hadn't finished making the damn thing.

She decided to make use of the snow around her, snow that could be used as part of a water justu. Jumping away from his next attack, Anko through a kunai at him the same time Genma did as well, giving Naruto enough time to go through the hand signs for a thousand feeding sharks, washing away or preferably killing their enemy.

She felt the pain of her wound and fell to her knees, wincing at the sting it caused through her legs, arms and back. She laid on her side to avoid pressing on the wound as Kurama healed it and when she looked down she saw it was half healed.

Anko, Iruka and Shisu began to fuss on her till she scolded them and told them to treat Ebisu's arm as unlike her, he didn't have Uzumaki blood in him to help heal.

Ebisu was half unconscious by the time Genma finished bandaging his arm up however it was what he said to Anko next that concerned her. She heard him state he would most likely not be able to fight with that arm anymore and she couldn't stop the feel of guilt that consumed her.

If she had been paying better attention to her surroundings she would have been able to help them however a whack on the back of her head from Kurama's tails bought her out of her miserable thoughts and remembered an interesting little detail about Uzumaki blood.

She bit her lip and contemplated whether it was worth the risk before shaking her head, it was Ebisu sensei. Of course it was worth the risk.

Kind of.

She reached into her pouch and took out the one she knew had a bowl in and took it out, pouring some of her blood into it and charged her nature chakra into it. Her sage mode hadn't faded off and she was going to use it as best she could before it did.

She pumped in a bit of the sun power the sage of six paths had given her, affectively getting rid of anything corrosive whilst adding a dash of healing powers into it as well.

She winced as she got up and asked one of them to feed her blood to Ebisu as it would help him to heal, no one questioned it and after a half hour the affects were starting to show.


	18. Chapter 17

Naruto, in her mind, was greeted by something she should be used to by now.

' _ **You are not helping so stop annoying me!'**_

All. Nine. Bijuu.

Arguing.

_Like children._

' _ **Just let us help!'**_  yelled Shukaku, trying to get past Kurama in order to do whatever the hell Kurama was doing.

' _ **Shukaku. Leave him be. He knows what he's doing.'**_  Replied a very calm Matatabi.

' _ **He clearly doesn't or we wouldn't be in this situation!'**_

' _ **Enough. You will give her a headache if you carry on arguing here.'**_  Replied Gyuuki and Naruto could have kissed him, whenever they had a meeting in her head, she was left with a killer migraine that not even her longevity nor Kurama could heal.

' _Do any of you care to explain what you're doing here today?'_  she asked in a sickly sweet voice causing bijuus 1-8 to freeze and look at her like naughty children to were caught with their hands in the cookie jar.

Kurama snickered having heard her thoughts,  _ **'**_ **I** _ **live here. They have no business here and are here to annoy me.'**_

' _Okay, Kurama, you think everyone is here to annoy you.'_  She rolled her eyes and reached out to pet his fur.  _'Now, what are you doing here? Most of you have jinchuriki to annoy.'_

She heard someone whine and looked up to see a very young and very skinny Killer Bee.  _'So. You're the nine tails host eh? I'm killer B, Gyuuki talks a lot about you. A lot. In fact, he practically sings praises about you all day long and I come all this way just to see a little brat.'_

Naruto had to blink and shake her head before giving a reply, but it wasn't to him.  _'Now- Now Kurama I can be mistaken… but is this is same rapping idiot who lives in Kumo? The one that taught me in turtle-back Island?'_

' _ **His chakra signature is the same so I will have to say yes.'**_

' _Huh. If this is what B looks like I demand to know what A looks like right now. Hell I wanna know what the hell Onoki looks like, because this- this is gold.'_

' _ **Mother, instead of being funny why don't you talk to Killer B about your plans?**_ _'_ suggested Kokuo and Naruto begrudgingly obliged.

It took Naruto roughly an hour and a half to explain to B what they all needed to do and he looked thoughtful. Or at least, she assumed he did, it's hard to judge what a person looks like when you can't see their eyes.

' _So your plan revolves around getting all nine jinchuriki to have full control over their bijuu? You know the Island will be needed for that right?'_

She nodded as she leaned into Kurama's fur,  _'I know in most cases that the Island is needed but not in all. I could be mistaken but Yagura and Utakata had good- not complete mind you- but good control over Isobi and Kokuo. An understanding between bijuu and jinchuriki is key. Kiri has no current jinchuriki I'm sure. And Chomei has none either but I am pretending to be her jinchuriki for now._

' _I've already dealt with a few… issues in Konoha such as Danzo. I need to deal with Hanzo next. Once those two are out of the way then I need a word- personally- with Akatsuki. As of now I can say Yahiko will live but with me being in the past and changing things… anything could happen.'_

He nodded and Naruto felt a shift in her mind. Looking over she saw Han and Roshi had joined them so she simply waved, continuing the conversation she was having with B.

' _If I understand this well… then Madara and Obito Uchiha are both problems as well, yes?'_

' _Yes. And no. Yes Obito was angry over Rin's death slash suicide but the main issue was the brainwashing he went through, through black Zetsu and Madara. I can't seal away Black Zetsu without Indara's soul so all I can do is deal with Madara. That will of course take time and effort because even if he old- he was on par with the God of Shinobi.'_ She massaged her head, thinking about it like this was giving her a headache.

Everything panned down to the same problem. Her body wasn't strong enough to deal with what she needed to do. She didn't even have full control over her  _chakra_.

'Don't think too hard, Naruto. Go back to your people and we will deal with the rest' said a very calm Kurama who wrapped her in his tails, lulling her out of her mind-scape.

.

.

.

Naruto heard grumbling as her eyes began to open. The first thing she noticed was she was cold, the next thing she noticed was a very familiar chakra signature that had her on edge.

Her eyes darted opened as she glared at the sennin in front of her. Despite how long she had been in Konoha with Orochimaru she hadn't gotten used to his presence. This had been the same in her old Konoha as well. Orochimaru had been forced to remain in the village so she and the hunter corps could keep their eyes on him, however his presence only severed cause her emotions to turmoil.

She hated him. Not because of his betrayal, not because he killed the sandaime, not because he experimented on children, and not because he made Sasuke defect. Those she could overlook. However she would never be able to overlook the simple fact he had betrayed Jiraiya. The pain he had caused her godfather was immense and for that, had her friends not told her otherwise, she would have had the man executed.

"Glaring will get you nowhere little girl." The snake sennin replied, his voice causing her to sit up hastily. A bad decision as it caused her to feel dizzy yet she refused to let him see.

Her right hand clenched and unclenched quickly as the mark heated up. Most likely Zetsu was nearby but she knew better than to try and go against him without her soul brother- Indra.

"That's where you're wrong." She replied cheerily as she smiled, a cold mirthless smile, "It shows my clear unadulterated hatred for you."

His smile in return would send shivers up the spine of anyone who wasn't the Rokudaime hokage. "Are you sure you don't mean fear? Beca-"

"I don't care why you think I'm afraid of you, but I'm not. I hate you due to pure ethic." She noticed she had drawn the attention of the rest of her teams but she didn't care, she needed to tell him she wasn't afraid of a pedo-hebi. "You experiment of people and you don't care who gets hurt in the end. Everyone is a little test subject to be put under a microscope if they catch your attention and if they don't, they're like dirt on your sandals. Everything about you disgusts me."

Everyone blinked, the genins and chunins mouths agape and Kushina looked like she was both laughing and yelling at her in her head. Naruto could also hear Kurama's laughing in her head as he wagged his tails behind him.

Naruto chose to ignore everyone around her and got up, not surprised when she didn't feel anything from her already healed wounds. It, however did, make her wonder how long she had been out. When she had been this age previously she would take time to heal from large wounds.

She left the tent and was joined by Shisui, both of them perching on one of the middle tree branches. She sighed as soon as they were somewhat alone, "How long have I been out?" she asked as she leaned against the bark on the tree.

He didn't answer her immediately and she became concerned. Perhaps she had been out for a long time?

"About six hours. Orochimaru-sama, Chouza sensei and Kushina sensei arrived a half hour after what happened with the Kumo forces and they handled the remaining ninja in the area. We carried on travelling and stopped here. Apparently we're near the base the others are at but because you and Ebisu needed medical attention and proper rest, we stopped."

Naruto knew he wasn't giving the whole story but felt too tired to give a full inquisition, "How is Ebisu?" she settled for asking.

He gave her a tight smile, "Thanks to your blood which you gave him, he's healing up a lot faster than he would have otherwise. Nothing like your healing but he'll be able to carry on his career with both arms in tact thanks to you."

She sighing as a feeling of relief flooded her. She would never be able to forgive herself if Ebisu-sensei didn't get a chance to be the annoying but likeable sensei she had known as a child.

She would have stopped there, really, she would have, however there was something bothering her and it was the pain in her right eye. "Shisui… what about you?" she asked cautiously as she twiddled her fingers.

She could hear Shisui's heartbeat from where she sat, a whole meter from her and she could hear how erratic it was. Instead of answering her he raised his head, his usually obsidian eyes were red,  _three_  tomoe in each eye.

As soon as she saw it her heartbeat matched his own. She felt a stabbing pain in her eye and she clenched it shut, trying to focus on his eyes. She knew she shouldn't, the sharingan had a lot of control over her and Kurama.

Her throat felt dry when she asked her next question, "Doesn't the sharingan only have one tomoe in each eye as the first stage?" she asked confusedly. She was sure that was how it usually was, but then again she was sitting in front of Shisui No Shunshin, the man whose sharingan was legend across the nations.

Sharingan rules didn't apply to him.

Kurama withheld a snort, he knew full well sharingan rules didn't apply to this boy.

She reviewed her question when he didn't reply and she felt like smacking herself, how could she know that if Shisui hadn't told her?

Shisui shrugged and sighed, "Your right… but that isn't always the case. In some cases, like mine…"

She furrowed her brows and raked her brain for a reason for this to happen and didn't recall any. "I don't follow." She stated as her hand unconsciously went under his eye and she began to rub it. It was the same eye that she had.

Shisui fidgeted where he sat and looked to where the others were resting. She nodded in understanding, he didn't wish to reveal clan secrets- kekkei-genkai secrets- with so many people around.

"Are you alright? That was a nasty cut on your hip…" he raised a brow and looked at where she had been cut.

She gave him a smile and a small chuckle, "I'm fine. That rest did me good. All healed I'm sure."

He didn't give a smile back, "Kushina-sensei said your healing was beyond normal Uzumaki standards… I know I'm not meant to mention this but is it because of… your orange chakra?"

She withheld laughing at him. Orange chakra was a pretty tame way of mentioning her bijuu chakra and she simply nodded to him and took out a scroll, motioning for him to join her.

They spent a total of five more minutes of peace before an indignant yell caused them to look down, "Hey! You guys can't keep leaving me out of this stuff!"

They both knew the voice immediately. Iruka.

"Well Iruka, if you didn't constantly blow us off in the village them maybe you wouldn't be left out of these things." replied Shisui with a raised quirked as was the side of his lip that his piercing on.

Iruka simply puffed his cheeks before walking up the tree and sat on a branch just a bit lower than theirs, "Now that's hardly fair. Whenever I try spending time with you, Bakashi or your baka cousin glare at me!" he whined and she laughed, recalling the many times she had seen the two boys do that whenever Iruka was around.

"They just don't like you spending time with Naruto since-" Naruto covered Shisui's mouth with her hand, not wanting him to tell her sensei exactly  _why_  Kakashi and Obito didn't like him.

"Instead of why, Iruka, why don't you just ignore them. Let me tell you, Obito may be and Uchiha but he doesn't have the Uchiha glare. Imagine if both of them were glaring like Kakashi does, then you'd be screwed." Naruto saw her teammate shiver and she could see in his eyes he was slightly afraid. "Show them you don't care what they think about you and you'll be good to go." She gave a large smile- fake as it was, but once again, no one managed to tell.

Well no one but the guy with 50-50 vision and spent a lot of his time with Naruto. She really hated when people stared at her, it made her think of times she much preferred to forget.

' _ **He's not going to hurt you. He's not going to touch you unless you want him to or let him.'**_

' _I think there's something wrong with me.'_  she replied warily.

' _ **What do you think is wrong with you?'**_  he asked, concerned and ready to physically or psychologically heal whatever was wrong with her.

' _My hearing. I thought I just hear you defend an Uchiha._ ' She said, dumbfounded.

Kurama blinked before he growled and threw her out of his mindscape, tails wagging into a tree causing him to grumble. She laughed at the sight causing both her male teammates to look her with concerned gazes.

She shook her head and pointed to her stomach, Shisui understanding whereas Iruka looked between them confused what she was referring to.

She felt bad for him. In her own time Iruka had been the first person to give a damn yet she had also kept so many secrets from him. He had never been made aware of the life she lived, the division she was really in and he didn't know how she felt- how she teetered on a very thin line to keep her sanity in check.

And here it was the same. Iruka was so kind, warm, welcoming- the exact opposite to her- and she couldn't bear to let him in, couldn't watch him crumble what she managed to salvage of herself.

She received a tail to her head for her thoughts curtsy of Kurama before she went over for a hug from Shisui. He reminded her so much of Itachi, the man she looked up to and helped her through the years of pain. Which was understandable, Shisui was practically an elder brother to the most loyal shinobi.

Shisui hugged her back as they carried to studying the scroll in front of them and Naruto stiffened when Iruka joined the hug, muttering about how he was always being left behind by the two of them.

.

.

.

"We travelled all this way, got attacked by foreign shinobi for this?" asked an irritated Iruka.

Naruto understood him, but was professional enough to not let it bother her. She had thought over long and hard and it made sense that they were going to this location.

"I mean, Minato-san has the hiraishin! I'm sure he could've gone to Konoha and back at least forty times over with the amount of time we spent!" he waved his hands in the air and no one felt the need to correct him.

Minato couldn't have done that because doing that would have alerted the enemy of their presence which was exactly what they were trying not to do.

Shisui placed a hand over Iruka's mouth and whispered for him to shut up before the two males of team Minato heard him and came over.

' _ **Too late.'**_  Kurama said and he got him popcorn ready to eat for any ensuing drama.

She mentally sighed at his antics and smiled on the outside, happy to see team Minato in one piece-

"Kakashi are you bleeding?" she asked the chunin, eyes squinted and nose inhaling the scent of his blood.

She received a pat on her head and her hair getting ruffled, "Just a minor flesh wound Naruto." Spoke Minato before he picked her up and put her on his shoulder, large smile on his face as he also received a kiss on the cheek from Kushina.

"I assume you all got here alright?" he asked them as his eyes swept over each of them only to become concerned when his eyes landed on Ebisu whose arm was still heavily bandaged.

"We got caught up to with some Kumo ninja. Naruto took out a few of their jonin but was severely injured when she went to the aid of our teammates. Ebisu here was really injured but he's good enough to fight, which isn't really necessary here right now." Genma reported is a tight voice. Seeing in the state they had been in before she passed out must not have been easy.

"Naruto was injured?" asked team Minato at the same time and the two Uzumaki's rolled their eyes.

"Ebisu was hurt as well. And he's still injured." Naruto stated as she huffed. Rin immediately got to action, hands glowing green as she began to heal Ebisu's arm more than they had been able to. She looked down and grinned at Shisui, "Wanna tell 'im?" she asked as she gestured to Obito.

Shisui's eyes were practically gleaming when he shook his head and Naruto knew he had a plan to rub it in his cousin's face. They were both sadists like that. It made her mentally sigh wistfully, her childhood would have been so much fun if she had someone like Shisui in her life, joining in on pranks and learning deadly techniques together.

"Tell who what?" asked Kushina.

They both grinned innocently and said together, "Nothing." Her face screamed that she didn't buy it but she didn't press, deciding instead to get them all to help around the base where they could.


	19. Chapter 18

Naruto wanted to know what she did to deserve the punishment she was being given, because as she went through her brain she couldn't recall a single thing she had done to deserve  _this_.

"Come on Naruto… it's not gonna be that bad." Spoke Iruka and Naruto withheld a snarky comeback, he was just trying to be supportive.

"Not bad? Hehe, did you hear that guys, he said it's not gonna be that bad, which one of you would disagree with me?" she muttered under her breath making sure no one would hear the conversation she was currently having with her other personalities. And once again they ignored her so she looked up to Kushina for support.

"No Naruto. You and I already have a very good immunity to poisons but your teammates don't, so you will have to be there for them as they go through with this." She replied sternly, thinking only for the best in the long run and Naruto could respect that.

"But why, by the almighty sage, would you choose  _him_?" she asked petulantly. Of all the people her mother could have chosen she had to go and choose him.

"Lord Orochimaru was the only qualified person to see this through safely during this period." The red head replied with a blank face.

" _Safely_  is not the word I'd use for a person who uses innocent people as test subjects!" she screeched.

Shisui covered her mouth with a chakra infused hand so Naruto wouldn't be able to do anything with it to silence the girl. He gave a bow to the sennin and spoke, "We thank you for your kindness, Lord Orochimaru, and we put ourselves in your care."

"Imm nmm hummm ym inn hmm har" she spoke, muffled, although Shisui mostly got the gist of it.  **(I'm not putting you in his care)**

"It doesn't matter what you're doing but what we're doing. It's me and Iruka who have to do this, not you." He paused and ignored the glare she gave him, "If I let go of your mouth, do you promise to behave."

If possible her glare intensified and for good measure she made sure to change them to Kurama's eyes, yet it did nothing. Coating her body with a very fine layer of chakra she wiggled slightly and felt him flinch.

He leaned next to her ear and hissed, "You know I'm ticklish, so quit it. You can watch him and if he does something wrong you can throw a senbon at him. How about that?"

She gave it some thought and nodded her head, sighing when he let go of her mouth, making sure to give the sennin the full brute of her glare.

She withheld her instinct to take a step back and rasengan him when she saw his yellow eyes glow. "What a fasssscinating eye colour. But what causes them to be like that? Toads do not have slits in their eyes."

Naruto froze as her blood ran cold, fighting off the images of several people in her past saying those exact words, the things they would do after and what never happened to them, no matter how much evidence was against them.

Without her knowledge her teeth grew longer and her nails turned into claws as Kurama's rage mixed with her own. She tried to suppress it, getting angry and hateful would achieve nothing however the nine bijuu talking in her head disagreed, their anger feeding her own and making it hard to breathe.

She looked up and saw Shisui standing in front of her, sharingan eyes spinning and she feel herself calming down, her anger cooling as she began to breathe normally. "Calm down, that's it. Take deep breaths Naru." Following Shisui's instructions, following the spinning sharingan like a lifeline she calmed down fully.

' _I never thought I'd say this, but praise the shodai for the power the sharingan has over me.'_  kurama grunted in reply, begrudgingly agreeing with her as he hit all of his siblings with his tails.

"Thanks." She whispered, a tight smile on her face and she felt arms over her shoulders, peeking over she saw it was Kakashi and her eyes widened. "Obito isn't here is he?"

He raised a brow and shook his head, Naruto and Shisui both released sighs of relief. "Am I missing something?"

Shisui gave him an innocent smile and Naruto replied quietly, "We'll explain later just don't tell anyone what you saw here, 'kay?" he looked down and saw her giving him the puppy-dog look and he couldn't refuse her.

"Naruto… what was that?" asked Kushina who looked shocked and she could sense fear as well. No doubt she had seen the features on Naruto and compared them to the features of a demon.

Naruto tried to think up and excuse she could use whilst Orochimaru was here and said, "I have uh… a fox contract and sometimes when I'm angry I take on fox features." She hoped they would drop it at that but the damn hebi wouldn't let it go.

"I would love to meet one of these fox summons. I have never heard of them before." His eyes showed that he didn't believe a word she was saying and she could feel everyone's eyes on her as she bit her lip.

She opened the seal on her covered right hand and bit her thumb for effect to 'summon' Kurama out of her seal with hopefully only one tail.

A loud noise and a large puff of smoke ensued the bijuu had time to cast a genjutsu on his tails as he sat down next to Naruto, head rubbing her leg till she picked him up. "This is my summons, Kurama. As you can see, he is a fox."

' _Please believe me, please believe me.'_  Naruto hadn't begged in years yet she would now just so they would drop the conversation and Kushina would hopefully not notice that the fox looked exactly like the nine tails sealed inside her minus the fact this one only had one tail.

"Kukuku, very interesting." If at all possible his eyes gleamed like gold and this time she took a step behind Kakashi who took a protective stance in front of her. The hebi followed both of their actions and cast a glance to Shisui, "Very interesting indeed. I look forward to getting to know all of you on team Kushina."

Naruto withheld a shiver when his tongue licked his lips, Kurama growling at the man before he jumped on him, "You will do nothing to her or you shall face my wrath." Orochimaru didn't seem to buy it and Kurama's smile was feral, "I am usually a lot bigger than this, hebi, and I can- if I so please- devour you whole." Naruto shook her head at his antics.

"Kurama. Enough." He looked back at her and went over, jumping on her shoulder before laying down over shoulders like a damn scarf. It was very welcomed in this cold and she silently thankful.

' _I should let you out of the seal more often. At least then the others might not come in my head so often.'_

' _ **Now that is an idea.'**_  He thought back as he closed his eyes, going to sleep as usual.

From there the conversation had thankfully been interrupted by the sudden arrival of Minato, stating everyone would have to stay in the mountain cave for a week before they were allowed out of the village and when asked why he simply replied it was an order from the sandaime.

Team Minato and Team Kushina sat together in a quiet area however Naruto, Shisui and Kakashi were further away from the others. "Okay… what really was with that earlier Naruto?" asked Kakashi and he looked to Shisui as well for good measure.

She looked over her shoulder and slammed her hand to the ground placing a small barrier around them to make sure no one listened in on their conversation.

"Swear you won't tell anyone?" asked Naruto although she already knew he wouldn't breathe a word to a soul, lest it be the sandaime then he might.

Kakashi gave her a bland look and nodded. She sighed and looked to Shisui, "Well… you know how I have a bijuu inside me right?" when they both nodded she continued, "Right I- I haven't told anyone but ero-tou-san about which bijuu I have and it's… Kakashi you may not believe me but I hold the nine tails." She waited for that to sink in and just when she was going to continue, Kakashi began to talk.

"That- that can't be." He looked in the general direction where Kushina was and she nodded in understanding.

"I get where you're coming from and it's… part of kyuubi is inside me and the other inside Kushina-sensei. The seal I have is stronger though so the chakra inside her is slowly flowing into me. And that pisses me off because it's messing up my chakra system." She grumbled the last sentence and Shisui spoke up.

"What about what happened over there? You looked so angry…"

She sighed, explaining this was going to be hard, "It was what he said, it triggered something inside and I got angry. My anger was further fed by kyuubi making me even angrier. The only reason I calmed down that quick was because Shisui used his sharingan."

Kakashi's head whipped over to the Uchiha in question faster than any hiraishin, "I saw your sharingan. How long have you had it?" his voice sounded bored and his composure wasn't much different however the two knew differently.

"Since the incident with the Kumo ninjas that attacked us. I-I'm not sure how I got it but all I know is… I was fighting then I saw Ebisu and Naruto severely injured and suddenly I can see a lot clearer…" he shrugged his shoulders and she realised that seeing them like that must have been really bad for him if it managed to activate his sharingan. The fact that it wasn't one person but two must have made it more emotional activating the sharingan with three tomoe in each eye.

That or Shisui no Shunshin was just that awesome.

Kakashi nodded along with Naruto and they could both see a small gleam in his eyes, "So… you've got your sharingan and Obito doesn't. and by the sound of it, he doesn't know you have it or we wouldn't be able to talk in peace right now… how do you intend to break the news to him exactly?" he wanted to know because he wasn't to see the look on Obito's face when he realised that his adorable baby cousin had activated his sharingan before him. The same cousin who seemed bored over the topic of his kekkei-genkai.

Shisui's eyes began to glow as an evil smirk appeared on his face, "I'm going to challenge him to a spar and show him during the match that I have the sharingan."

Naruto giggled and added, "I can't go into detail but this kekkei-genkai has stages and Shisui despite having just gotten it has achieved all the primary stages. The other stages have only been known to have achieved by Madara Uchiha himself." She silently correctly herself. Shisui had the mangekyo, Itachi had the mangekyo, Obito did, Kakashi sensei did and so had Sasuke.

Shisui looked to Naruto confused, "You said the sharingan calmed you down. How?" Naruto was interested to know why he didn't seem to be questioning how she knew so much about his kekkei-genkai.

She gave him a sheepish grin and scratched the back of her neck, "Well uh I don't make a habit of telling people this and if anyone finds out…" she leaned closer, Kurama who was around still around her neck glared, "I will skin you alive and let him eat your remains." He growled for good measure and they both nodded in understanding fear, "I'm highly susceptible to the sharingan because the nine tails can be controlled by it. Because of that, I tend to be wary about it but I don't mind you using it on me Shisui. But abuse that power and he will kill you." She pointed to the feral looked kyuubi on her shoulders who had released the genjutsu and both of their eyes widened.

"So- you don't have a fox summon? Instead you summoned the nine tails out of your seal?" asked a flabbergast Kakashi and once she again she nodded in understanding.

"I had to do something to get the hebi off my case." She replied as if her actions would be justified, which according to the shaking heads of Kakashi and Shisui, it wasn't.

"I still can't get over how you have part of the nine tails inside of you." Replied Shisui as he shook his head slightly. Naruto knew what he was really trying to say was that she held the nine tails whilst everyone seemed to believe she held the eight tails.

She smiled a wry smile at the two of them and lowered the barrier seal around them and took out a scroll, her eyes glinting as she looked at them. Leaning in closer she whispered to them, "I was in aniki's room the other day back in Konoha and found this lovely little scroll. This will teach him to leave fuinjutsu lying around."

She opened the scroll and Kakashi raised a humoured brow, "Why would he leave that lying around?"

She looked up and shrugged, "Because he wants me to take it or he doesn't care?"

"What is it?" asked Shisui.

They both looked at him and replied simultaneously, "Hiraishin."

Shisui's eyes began to twinkle and he leaned forwards, sharingan eyes spinning as he tried to memorise everything in front of him. Naruto raised her hand and hit him behind the head, "No cheating. We're going to learn this the old fashioned way, I don't want to see any of your funny business." She squinted her eyes and made sure he would do as she said and he did.

Obito came over to them a moment later draped across Kakashi's shoulder. Of course the Hatake threw him off abruptly and scooted closer to Naruto and gestured for Shisui to sit on his other side, forcing Obito and Rin to sit next to each other.

"What the hell was that for Bakashi?!" Kakashi and Naruto sighed through exasperation.

"You know, Obito, that isn't his name and your bad habits are rubbing onto Iruka." Spoke a very calm Kushina however she wasn't calm when she saw what Naruto and the boys were studying, "Where did you get this from?!" she reached out to take it however Naruto was slightly faster as she was closer to it and quickly hid it on one of her pockets, jumping onto Kakashi in order to keep her from grabbing it.

"Naruto. You can't go taking things like that." Kushina stated with crossed arms as she looked to her boyfriend's little sister.

Naruto crossed her arms as well, "Well if he didn't want me to take it, he shouldn't have left it lying around."

"Who shouldn't leave what lying around?" asked Minato who came up from behind Kushina and leaned to give her a kiss however she looked the other way.

"Naruto has your scroll on the hiraishin seal." she tattled and Naruto glared at her.

Minato looked between Naruto and Kushina before shrugging his shoulders, "As long as she doesn't decide to hiraishin to Iwa or Kumo it shouldn't be a problem." Naruto refrained from hugging Minato because she knew that if she did, Kushina was ready to take it from her.

"Oh so you're fine with your sister learning the hiraishin but not me?" she quirked a brow and Minato simply smiled at her.

"She managed to take it from my room, you didn't." he shrugged and Naruto got up and took the two boys with her before Minato changed his mind.

.

.

.

"Um Naruto are you sure I should be learning this with you?" asked a very nervous Genma and Naruto couldn't help but grin at him.

"You'll be fine Genma. If Raido was here with us, I'd teach him as well." She nodded earnestly and handed him a pen as they all began to make notes. "Okay so this layer is centring on chakra absorption but what does this one do?" she asked them but she already knew what it did.

Kakashi leaned forward and pointed to it, "This is the point that correlates to time. Depending on how much chakra you put into this point you can either go to the seal point immediately or in a shortly delayed time, but that isn't advised as I saw Minato sensei do that once and he came back highly disoriented."

"For this point here, it covers space so you have to make sure you put enough chakra into here as well otherwise you won't be going where the seal is, you'll be staying where you are or to a different seal location." Added Shisui and she couldn't help but smile. A year and a half of teaching the boys fuinjutsu had its perks.

"Of course, the further away the seal is you intend to hiraishin to, the more chakra you'll have to use." She finished and looked to Genma who was rushing his notes, "Did you get all that information Genma?"

He didn't answer immediately and all eyes fell onto him. When he finished writing his notes he looked up at them, "Yeah, sorry about taking too long to write them though."

They all raised their hands and Shisui spoke, "No, take as long as you need to. Fuinjutsu isn't easy and if there's something you don't get, feel free to ask us."

"And make sure you can read your notes as well I remember this one time she was going so fast explaining something I had to go and wake her up in order to tell me what the hell I wrote." Replied Kakashi and Genma looked at him as if he grew a second head.

"You woke her up at Minato-sensei's home?"

He shook his head, "I was on the sofa in my apartment so she was sleeping in my bed." He shivered at the memory, "Word to the wise guys, never wake her up before the sun is up for anything other than a mission otherwise." He faded off once again however Shisui finished it for him having experienced the same thing.

"There's this old saying, 'Hell hath no fury like an Uzumaki woman scorned.' And Naruto has Uzumaki blood in her veins."

"Hey! I'm sitting right here dattebayo!" yelled the indignant blonde and all the boys looked at her each sporting sheepish grins, well, all of them besides Kakashi who looked like he didn't give a damn.

.

.

.

**A/N I'm going to have to say the below in italics is not something some readers would like to read as it includes mention of rape and sexual activities and sexual organs. I have tried to work around it so it wasn't obvious but I'm still warning you- read at your own digression. It's safe to read from where the italics end.**

" _Whilst it is a pleasure to be of use to use, Rokudaime-sama, I am confused why you would come to me over your comrades." Spoke the snake sennin across the youngest kage._

_She showed no outward emotion, a skill she had developed over the years, as she replied, "I didn't wish to involve Tsunade obaa-san nor Sakura-chan with this."_

_He raised a black brow to her, "Meaning you did not wish for them to see you like this? Or because you didn't wish for them to find out this was even a problem?" when she gave no answer he looked to her ANBU guard, Sasuke, before looking back to her, a smirk on his face. "You did not wish to tell them because you do not wish them to know about your time as a hunter." Thankfully Orochimaru valued his life and tongue being where they currently were and shut up._

_They were silent as he ran the blood test in front of the two of them and within a half hour, he was finished and looked to her. "I need to conduct another test, one outside of blood-works." She raised a brow and he elaborated, "I need to conduct a physical. If you do not wish me to do it, Sasuke can do it. All I need to do is tell him what he needs to look for etcetera." He waved a hand and she nodded reluctantly._

_This wasn't the first time someone was going to conduct a physical on her, being a kunoichi meant she had to undergo it several times however during her time with Jiraiya it had stopped and once he died they started up again. However becoming a hunter-nin made the physical more often, as it ascertained to internal failures- usually temporary and sometimes permanent._

_This physical however was a lot more… degrading and Naruto would be sure to never think of it again, having Sasuke inspect her like that was downright embarrassing and put her on edge, even if it made her feel a lot better than if the hebi was doing it._

_Another half an hour later and the sennin looked towards her, face blank as he read through his notes. It was another five minutes before he looked up at her and she felt her shoulders stiffen from his posture, something was wrong. "Before I tell you your results I would like you to answer a few of my questions."_

_She nodded her head slowly and mentally smacked herself, she was showing emotion. "Are your periods regular?"_

_Naruto's face was calm and schooled which was more than what she could say for her masked guard, "Most of the time… no. When I was younger I was told to take contraceptive pills and they messed up my periods. However even now, years later they still aren't regular."_

_He nodded and wrote somethings down, not looking up at her as he asked his next question, "Have you ever forced your periods to stop?"_

_She gave it some thought and nodded but did not elaborate. "During intercourse, have you ever felt pain?" He looked up at her and she gave him a clear look that said 'Are you stupid?' "Please answer the question, hokage-sama."_

_She grit her teeth, she didn't want to answer_ that _in front of Sasuke but he had to hear the answer, "Yes." His head whipped over to her faster than any hiraishin she had ever seen and it startled both of the other summoners in the room._

_Orochimaru cleared his throat, drawing in both of their attention, "Was this pain you felt from times during duty or personal times? And please elaborate on the answer."_

" _Both. Whilst on duty… you know what sort of missions I was given. I was the commander of the hunter corps however I was just another hunter at first and I was given many mission where such things were necessary, there was always pain as they…" she gave a gesture and he nodded so she continued, "And that pain was mostly in my lower abdomen. I also felt after pains from those times as well._

" _Whereas personal times was less painful it was still painful, I had been told with Inoichi whilst he was still alive that such things could be expected and may have been phantom pains from my memories."_

_He raised a hand to stop her, "Were you in a physical relationship with someone personally at the time Inoichi Yamanaka was alive?"_

_She shook her head, no, "We had simply discussed probabilities at the time. However he did also state that if I did still feel the pain after a while that is should see a doctor which is what I'm doing now."_

" _You mentioned after pain before. Did you experience any such pains during your personal times?"_

_She bit her lip and slowly nodded her head, "It wasn't as frequent as when I was on duty but I do still feel after pains but they're not as strong, I had thought it could have been because I was very active, fighting a lot and using a lot of chakra."_

_He nodded his head and didn't say anything as he counted whatever it is he had on his paper. "One last question, but this is to Sasuke." He turned towards her masked guard and asked, "You've been with other women during your time in Oto, I made sure of it. Would you say it is easier or harder to get hokage-sama wet?"_

_There was complete silence in the wall and Naruto felt like laughing and yelling indignantly simultaneously however she didn't allow herself to. If Orochimaru was asking this question then it was necessary._

_It took Sasuke a few tries but he finally managed to choke out his answer, "It's harder. Whilst she easily gets into the mood and wants to… I find it difficult sometimes to make her…" he gestured and Orochimaru raised a hand in understanding before turning to write something down._

_The clock on the wall ticked as the seconds went by and Naruto could feel her patience ebbing away slowly until finally he turned around and faced her, "Whilst there was nothing wrong in your blood, the physical we had Sasuke do on you, and your answers make it clear that you have physical trauma to your uterus, Bartholin glands as well as your vagina. Tell me hokage-sama, when you were younger were you ever raped with a sharp object? If so please elaborate."_

_She sucked in her breath before releasing a heavy sigh, eyes clenched shut, "When I was younger, well you're well aware that the villagers hated me. It happened a total of three times before Itachi was assigned as my ANBU detail and put an end to it, but it happened with a rod which had a few small shards of broken glass on it, each one was laced with a poison which I don't remember the name of."_

_He nodded and gave the rokudaime a sad look which made her blood freeze, from her head to her toes, all she could feel was numbness as he spoke, "My condolences, lady hokage, you are physically unable to have children due to the trauma of your body. However since there is no problem within your blood you will still have IVF using a surrogate as an option-"_

_She couldn't hear the rest of his sentence. Everything stopped and all she could hear was that annoying, incessant, ringing in her ear. She wanted it to stop. She wanted Orochimaru to stop talking. She wanted to make everything STOP_.

.

Naruto woke up in a start, body hotter than usual and covered in sweat. She looked around her and saw she was still in the hideout, Shisui and Kakashi using her body as a heater to warm themselves up. Sitting up, she covered her head with her hands as she fought off the memories.

After that appointment with Orochimaru she had collapsed and Sasuke had taken her home. Orochimaru had come the next day and swore he wouldn't say a word and even volunteered to be given a silencing seal on his tongue to keep himself from saying anything to anyone other than the two of them. He had also volunteered to lock her memories away, so she wouldn't have to be constantly worn down by the fact she was barren and at first she had refused him.

However weeks later she hadn't recovered and was getting physically worse, sickness, insomnia and lack of food and water were slowly killing her in the inside and she agreed to have her memories locked from herself since it wasn't something she or her other personalities were capable of doing.

The seal and many other memory seals broke when Kurama had awoken in this timeline however she hadn't been very phased. This body of hers hadn't been forced to deal with any of the physical trauma her other body had so she had schooled herself into believing it didn't matter anymore, even though it pissed her off to no ends. It was in the past- future?

However the resurfacing of this memory reminded her that Orochimaru wasn't completely bad. He was capable of good things as long as he was steered in the right direction. The sennin was powerful and intellectual, begrudgingly more than Naruto and Jiraiya were in many areas and could also be of help in ending this war earlier than she and Jiraiya had anticipated.

It certainly gave her other things to think about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N Well it certainly has been a long time since I updated. I apologise, I know I said I'd update sooner but things have been more hectic than I had initially anticipated. But I felt bad enough to extend this chapter to nearly 5000 words compared to my average of 3000.
> 
> Also I hope this chapter cleared things up about why I hadn't mentioned the infertility thing in earlier chapters, she had forced herself to forget- something some women wish they could do, but isn't necessarily the case with all women.
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, I hope everyone who had exams passed them and generally hope everyone enjoyed themselves.
> 
> Don't forget to comment anything you want to ask. Till next time!


	20. Chapter 19

JUNE- 26 MONTHS

.

.

.

"You need to focus your chakra into a singular point and then make it move into a line to take the shape of a thread. Imagine a needle, straight and sharp." Explained Orochimaru and Naruto grit her teeth in annoyance. Not because it wasn't working. No, she was annoyed because it  _was_  working- partly.

Jiraiya and Kakashi were amazing teachers, as was Kushina, however the three of them preferred the hands-off approach whereas Orochimaru preferred the hands-on approach.

Granted, it made learning a lot easier and faster however there were so many lessons to be taught when one had to find answers on their own and that made her appreciate the method her previous sensei's preferred.

Another reason for her annoyance was the fact that the hebi was teaching her when she specifically recalled Kushina and Jiraiya being her teachers.

She let out a groan of frustration when for the eleventh time she burst the ball she was using. Chakra control was not her strong point.

Orochimaru crouched down and looked at the ball with squinted eyes, "You are doing everything right…" his yellow eyes seemed to be dull yet as the same time they gleamed. She wasn't sure how he did it but he clearly did and that unnerved her more than his being less than half a metre away from her.

She shrugged her shoulders and looked to the burning ball, "I have a lot of chakra and its' corrosive as much as it is dense and vast. Inryo ninjutsu and genjutsu are things I'll never be able to do because of my crappy control but I think I make up for that pretty well with my ninjutsu, taijutsu, kinjutsu, kenjutsu and fuinjutsu. As well as my aptitude for senjutsu." she wasn't sure why she was explaining things to the hebi, most likely due to having her memories returned and she wasn't happy about it.

Life was so much easier when she could just hate him.

He placed a thumb under his chin as he hummed quietly. She looked over to see Shisui who was apparently having more success with his kenjutsu than she was with the chakra control exercise.

She looked back to Orochimaru when she heard him snap his fingers. "Come." With that one word he took a gentle yet firm grip of her upper arm and dragged her over to one of the trees in the training field. "Stay upside-down on one of the highest, sturdy branch and keep your hair and clothes on you. No dangling hair and no floppy clothing."

He folded his arms and Naruto withheld a sigh as she made her way up and did as he requested. It took a few moments for her to focus. Her clothes were easy enough however her hair was a slight issue as she had long hair- and lots of it.

She was so focused on her task at hand she was unable to pay much attention to her surroundings and only managed to dodge the kunai which came her way by Kurama forcing her to move.

Without losing concentration she started wide-eyed at Iruka who also had the dignity to look wide eyed with his mouth agape. Neither of them said a word and instead it was Orochimaru who snapped at the poor boy, "Watch your aim. You could kill an ally rather than an enemy like that." He paid no further attention to Iruka and instead focused solely on Naruto.

An hour later Naruto found her at the edge of her patience. She was bored but wasn't allowed to do anything else, that was until Orochimaru spoke up, "Now, come down for a short break then continue this exercise but with a twist."

Not bothering to ask what the twist was, she made her way down walking backwards as her own added twist before taking a seat and slowly eating the bento she had made in the morning.

Shisui and Iruka had been given a break at the same time as her and the three of them ate leaning against the tree she had been using for practise. They were silent until Shisui pointed out one of her seals, the new one she had done only recently after having returned from a B rank mission.

She recalled as a genin in her time genin weren't allowed to go on missions above C rank without proper training yet that rule apparently didn't apply to war time. Yet another thing she had made different during her reign as kage- short as it may have been.

It was an intricate seal to say the least. It started from her left wrist to her elbow and it allowed her to use clan techniques rather easily. That was, if she had the blood or chakra of someone who was in those clans. For example, if she had a sample of Shikaku's blood or chakra infused into the seal she would be able to use shadow manipulation.

Of course, after five uses the seal would disappear and she would have to go through the whole process all over again.

Once she had explained that to Shisui and Iruka, Orochimaru leaned over to take a closer look, causing the three of them to jump back at his sudden proximity. "An interesting seal. That is if you can manage to handle the overload of each technique."

Naruto scoffed before crossing her arms, "I won't be undone by something as stupid as overload. I won't try a jutsu I don't fully understand- however I fully know all the current clan jutsu's in Konoha and even a few outside the borders of Hi no Kuni."

' _ **I call bullshit.'**_  Grumbled Kurama and Naruto mentally slapped him. She couldn't exactly say she knew all clan jutsu's across the five nations as well as ones that hadn't been made yet.

Orochimaru raised a brow and leaned back slightly, a frown marring his face, "Jiraiya tells you too much."

This time Shisui and Iruka raised their brows and both said, "She just reads too much." Before going back to their meals.

Naruto puffed her cheeks out at them, it wasn't her fault she liked reading. No. Liked wasn't the correct word. She had spent two years as kage as well as her years in the Hunter Corps- so she had to read day-in and day-out in order to know everything about the five nations and keep up with the hokage's paperwork. Reading was soothing to her as it was part of her norm.

Deciding to ignore them she went back to her bento only to realise she had already finished it. She frowned, not recalling having finished it before sighing and packing it away. Taking her bottle out she drank a few gulps of water and cringed when she realised that in her haste she didn't smell it was sake.

She turned to glare at her two teammates who were pointedly not looking at her, failing miserably to conceal their amusement. She decided to kill their buzz, "I can't get drunk. Alcohol has no effect on me." she smirked as she watched their faces worked to scowls.

She straightened her back when she heard a hiss and looked up to see Orochimaru looking at her intently. She slapped her forehead with the palm of her hand, shaking her head at him. It was typically Orochimaru to get so intrigued about such things.

Just as she raised her head to retort she snapped her head over to where her mother was running over to them. She stopped just a meter away from them, chest heaving yet the red head paid it no mind as she thrust a piece of paper in Naruto's hand.

Naruto recognised the sheet of paper she was holding, even if it was very different to the one she had received in her own time. The thing that made it really obvious was the title.

_CHUNIN EXAM APPLICATION FORM_

Slowly she looking up at her jonin instructor, confusion marring her face as she wondered why she was the only one receiving a paper.

"Sandaime-sama and Jiraiya-sensei were discussing who was most qualified of the current generation for the upcoming chunin exams and we both nominated you." She explained hastily that Naruto had a hard time making sense of her elder.

"But why not Shisui and Iruka?" she asked, curious since they were practically studying the same things. Even if she didn't nominate Iruka just yet, at the very least Shisui had the capabilities to participate.

Kushina rubbed the back of her head with a nervous grin on her face, "There were several factors we bought up during the meeting and a few of the main ones were your aptitude in almost everything and the fact that you've had your first kill." Both girls saw the boys flinch at the memory, not that Naruto could blame them. After all, she had killed one of them by ripping his heart out of his chest.

Not a very pretty sight but a quick kill.

Kurama purred in her mindscape as he recalled all the people she had killed and she made a mental note to figure out how to get the bijuu therapy, because damn did he need it.

Frowning she looked back at the paper and the boys before looking at Kushina again, "I can't participate in the exam alone… who will I be paired up with?"

Kushina's eyes began to sparkle and if it hadn't been for the fact their backs were up against a tree, they would have gone back further. "Ebisu hasn't made it to chunin yet and I heard from a little birdy that Tsunade-sama will be bringing Shizune to the upcoming exam as well."

Naruto mouth opened slightly as her eyes widened slightly. "Lady Tsunade's coming back?"

Instead of Kushina replying, instead it was Orochimaru who was leaning against the side of the tree, reading a book that Naruto swore he got from her pocket, "Jiraiya managed to convince Tsunade-hime into coming home. At least for the exam. Whether or not she decides to stay depends on whether or not she can be convinced in doing so." For whatever reason, the hebi was looking very intently at Naruto, as if he knew something she didn't know he knew.

In fact, as of late, Orochimaru had been acting like that quite often. Ever since their mission in Shimugakure one month ago he seemed to be… friendlier. Of course Naruto still didn't like him very much yet she had been- and still was- willing to try.

She squinted suspiciously at him and simply received a very innocent look that didn't belong on the face of any of the sannin.

Naruto blinked as she regarded the form, deciding whether or not it was worth taking part in the exam. She was seven, the same age Kakashi had been when he became chunin- however she was technically older than that. With her current knowledge and capabilities she should be able to make it to the final exam even if she didn't make it to chunin. At the very least it would give her a good insight on the people partaking in the exams.

She nodded slowly, "I'll think a bit longer on this… where is the exam being held?"

"Here in Konoha. Since we are at war with the other nations each village will be holding their own chunin exam, since none will take the chance of losing their shinobi."

Naruto nodded as she recalled reading about such things during her kage training. It wasn't something her generation had been subjected to considering they had managed 14 years of peace by the time she had taken her first exam.

She turned to look at her two teammates, "You guys don't mind if I did tae the exam?" she wanted to be sure. There was no point in taking the exam if her friends didn't like the idea, she could always wait to take it with them.

Iruka just shrugged, "You're been given the option so why not?"

"Yeah, if it was I a foreign nation I might suggest not taking part, but since it's in Konoha there should be no problem. Besides, out of the hundreds that apply for the exams, only five or six maximum make it to chunin. There have also been times when no one has made chunin." Added Shisui and everyone stared at him as if he had grown a second head, a look he was sort of used to.

"You know…. Naruto I think the next time you go the library I may… possibly need to go with you. Being surrounded by you, Shisui, Kushina-sensei, Orochimaru-sama, Jiraiya-sama, Kakashi and ya' now, everyone else… it makes me feel quite dumb."

Naruto reached over and put her hand on his shoulder, as did Kushina, "Don't worry. Shisui just knows too much." Even Orochimaru nodded his head. Sure they all knew those things, but the fact that Shisui who at this stage has no business knowing this  _knew_  this merely proved the Uchiha liked reading more than he should.

Shisui's indignant yelling over how reading was important fell on deaf ears.

.

.

.

Jiraiya raised a brow as he looked at Naruto. She was leaning over the living room table, glaring heatedly at the fuinjutsu scroll in front of her as if she planned on burning it.

Going over to his adoptive daughter he took a peak at the scroll and understood her frustration. Whilst he was nowhere near as good at fuinjutsu as Naruto, Minato or Kushina he was good enough to know that the seal in front of him wasn't going to work for whatever it was made to do.

Tilting his head to the side he also squinted at it, "What's it supposed to do?"

Naruto banged her head on the table hard enough to make him wince yet she seemed unfazed as she did it another two times, "I don't  _know_! Iruka gave me this blasted thing  _yesterday_  and I  _still_  can't figure it out! It could be anything from an explosive to a  _freaking_  contraceptive for all I now?" she raised her arms in the air to show just how frustrated she was at it.

"Have you tried breaking down the layers?" he asked as he took a seat next to her, trying to help her make sense of the bloody thing.

She whimpered as she nodded, and Jiraiya was certain that if she had the mangekyo activated she would have burnt it with the amerterasu.

"I've tried braking it down and it just makes me even more confused." She pointed to the top right, "This part is a bomb-like explosive." She then pointed to the bottom right, "This is a smoke screen." The bottom left, "this part explodes itching powder." Top left, "This part forces water out." The centre, "And this part looks like a contraceptive! It's got so many parts to it that I don't get it!"

She growled in frustration and began to tug at her hair before Jiraiya patted her head, "Why not ask Iruka what it's supposed to do?"

The look she gave him made his inside want to melt as if he was a civilian. "He's with his mum in the hospital. Apparently she's caught a really bad virus from her espionage mission in Kusa, and is staying by her side as his dad is still out of the country."

Jiraiya nodded, he had heard about that. The whole thing was a cover up. The shinobi had all been poisoned with a slow deteriorating poison that eats at them from the inside. The first stages were mild and gave the person a temperature and a bad stomach with vomiting.

It was the main reason they had called Tsunade back, to help heal those who had been infected. Those who came into close quarters also caught it though no one could figure out how. Most likely Iruka visiting her was a cover for having also caught it so the girl would be able to focus on the upcoming exam.

"Hey, why don't you focus on your training rather than this seal? I'm sure Iruka wouldn't mind if you prioritised an exam over his homework."

He could see the hesitance in her eyes before she sighed in resignation and got out some scrolls from the side of the table, putting away Iruka's scroll for the time being.

Getting up he informed her he had to go and see Orochimaru before heading out to do just that, meeting his teammate where they had planned to meet up.

His dark haired teammate was leaning against the memorial stone as he awaited his teammate, turning only when Jiraiya was less than a meter away.

Jiraiya waited till Orochimaru reached into his pocket and took out a scroll, "Tsunade-hime has begun her mission in the village, however she is adamant that she will not be staying." He twirled the scroll in his hand and gave it to Jiraiya who simply placed it in his hiori.

"I found your three brats and have bought them to the village. They agreed to remain here as long as they could bring some of their friends with them. Sensei has agreed to allow them to remain in the village but it will be some time before they will be allowed to become shinobi. However they will be allowed to train." They both went over to a tree and climbed it to the centre when they sensed someone nearby. "As for Iwa… Onoki has been sending out Roshi and Han more often. I was in a meeting with sensei and the council and they are demanding both Kushina and Naruto to be sent on to the front lines to fight the other jinchuriki." Orochimaru raised his hands as Jiraiya released some KI, chuckling at his friends antics.

"Of course I managed to convince sensei and the council to hold off on that just yet- however only for Naruto. Kushina will still be expected to go onto the front lines but she won't be alone. I managed to convince them to allow both Minato and Mikoto to go with her. Minato being able to teleport to her immediately and Mikoto being generally capable of handling her best friend."

Jiraiya nodded as he fumbled with a branch, "Kumo has been sending out B a lot more as well, they have even found a new host for Nibi. A young girl called Yugito. From what I've been told, once this war is over B intends to train the girl to have full control over her bijuu." Jiraiya shrugged, the girl wasn't currently a threat and if they played their cards right, she would never become a threat.

"For Suna…. I've managed to convince the council to reconcile with them, creating a new treaty with the other nation. This time the treaty will be more than a neutral agreement. It'll hold benefits for both nations, and a marriage to solidify said agreement. Most likely if Suna agrees, young Temari who was just born recently will be married to Asuma considering he is the closest of age. That is if they decide to rush things. If they decide to simply allow the prospect of marriage to draw the girl would be able to choose her own husband."

Jiraiya shivered as he thought about what Naruto's reaction would be if he told her this. She was a firm believer that Temari and Shikaku's none existent son- Shikamaru- were soulmates that were only meant for each other. He also recalled Naruto saying something about Asume having a kid with Kurenai, the red eyes genjutsu mistress he had met a few months previously.

"Any word on Kiri?" asked Orochimaru.

"So far, they don't have a jinchuriki. The previous two jinchuriki are both dead however if rumours are to be trusted then Yagura will be made a jinchuriki as will Utakata. Yagura is currently participating in the war however Utakata is simply a candidate since he's only a child."

"He may be a child but he is from Kirigakure, they should not be underestimated." The two carried on talking about things they had found out for a few hours before Jiraiya decided it was time they went back to their homes.

.

.

.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N I do apologise for the long wait and really I do not want to bore you with why. What I will say is I had a lot going on.  
> Anyway, the K button on my keyboard is being funny so there might be some oddities because of that.


	21. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> before or after reading this chapter I'd like everyone to re-read chapters 1-15 because I've made plot changes, hence the long wait. I'll do 16-19 soon. I also intend to focus of this fanfic for a bit since I've got writers block with Second time Round.
> 
> But seriously, the plot changes are kinda drastic such as... Danzo is no longer dead.

JULY- 27 MONTHS

..-..

Naruto had always liked Shizune. She was nice, calm and understanding- a big sister to many to didn't have sisters. However  _this_  Shizune was acting like she had spent too much time with Anko. Which was probably the case.

She seemed highly irritable but didn't cuss like a sailor which was a good thing. She wore a tight black shirt with a knee length skirt, under the skirt were mesh shorts and her holster was on her right thigh. Her black hair was longer and overall she looked more badass.

Ebisu on the other hand looked less… domineering and more leering. Even with his glasses on it was easy enough to tell he was constantly looking at the girl's chest.

It was and odd team to say the least but they made it work. The written portion had no hidden strings to it so it hadn't been hard. Round two tested your stealth capabilities. They had spent two days in the forest of death as their task was to hide a scroll and make sure none of the other teams would find it, but an added twist was they couldn't be found either.

For the second round you didn't have to win, but meet simple criteria's. Ebisu passed because he had shown great chakra control in managing to hide his presence completely, Shizune managed to knock people out before they found her and Naruto had managed to keep her presence and the scroll's hidden behind a barrier seal.

Of course, because the second round was based on filling in certain criteria there were a lot of people who passed but at the same time there weren't that many since it was only Konoha shinobi. Same as last time, the old man gave a speech she didn't care to listen to.

However unlike last time there was no mention of any prelims and instead, the sandaime had requested everyone take a number so the finals could take place within a week. She had been shocked but managed to keep it hidden, it wasn't like they  _had_  to have any prelims since Konoha would be the only ones participating and they wouldn't be boring other kage.

She cringed when she saw the line-up but then began to mentally cackle in glee, it was going to be entertaining to watch.

Shizune vs Rin.

Kurenai vs Hakuya.

Izumo vs Kotetsu.

Naruto vs Tadase.

Hayate vs Akemi.

Ebisu vs Kazuo.

Naruto had a good idea who would win in each round but wasn't sure how the final rounds would go. Also, as much as she was rooting for Rin to win her round, there was no way the docile girl was going to win against Shizune who was taught by  _Tsunade_.

Speaking of Tsunade, whenever Naruto managed to get a hold of Jiraiya she was going to  _throttle_  him for keeping the virus a secret from her. Her blood could heal  _and_  expel poisons for shodaime's sake.

Once they were allowed to leave they all went their own ways, Naruto having no particular place she wanted to be decided to simply walk around the village and see what happened from there.

As she made her way through the village she bumped into the person who had somehow become another one of her join instructors- Orochimaru. As much as he was less of a nuisance than she had thought, he still put her on edge.

It was a feeling Kurama had explained was most likely from the hatred between snakes and toads, which had rubbed off on her as a toad sage.

She paused in front of him since he had been staring at her, meaning he had something to relay to her. "Jiraiya wanted me to give this to you." He reached out and handed her a normal looking scroll however it had a black ribbon, usually only given to ANBU operatives causing her the quirk a brow.

Orochimaru's eyes gleamed as he smirked, "Why would I be give-"

"You and I both know why, little Uzumaki." Years to training her self-control was the only thing that caused her to not react.

Jiraiya was in for more than a throttling later.

Though her face and eyes gave nothing away, her stance changed ever so slightly as she was on edge. "So what now?" she asked as she put away the scroll, berating herself for not doing so sooner.

"Now… we should train in the playground."

Naruto resisted the urge to slap him. She just got free of that damn place and was now forced to go back there just because Kushina-sensei wasn't in the damn village.

.

.

.

"Is there really a point to this?"

The proctor raised a brow, "Why wouldn't there be a point to this?"

"I mean, there's no way I can  _win_  or  _lose_  when I'm up against myself."

The proctor shrugged, "Well just imagine if you did lose against yourself, which would be entirely embarrassing."

"Can you just announced me as the winner already?"

The man sighed and nodded, "Winner of the match, Naruto Namikaze!"

In her own opinion, it was anti-climactic. The matches had gone as she had initially thought, Shizune winning her round, Kurenai winning hers. Kotetsu won his and Naruto won hers. Hayate won his and Ebisu won his as well.

The second rounds had been Shizune vs Kureani- Shizune won. Kotetsu vs Naruto- Kotetsu forfeited stating there was no way he would be able to win and made a tactical retreat. Hayate vs Ebisu lead to Hayate winning.

The next matches had been Shizune vs Naruto which Naruto won and Naruto vs Hayate, once again Naruto won. Which led to the final match, Naruto vs herself.

Of course, winning the rounds wasn't what the chunin exams were about, something Naruto kept repeating to Rin who was once again standing outside the doors of the hokage office as the chunin exam council discussed who should and shouldn't pass.

Everyone showed great potential, however the most likely to pass were Rin, Hayate, Ebisu and Shizune as they showed they could take control of a situation with a level head as well as be discreet in their work.

Naruto had already been made a chunin in her own time and had purposefully acted brash during this exam, making sure she wouldn't get promoted to chunin.

Yes, being chunin meant she could take missions on her own however she needed to be near Obito in order to make sure he didn't get kidnapped and brainwashed by Zetsu and his scheming.

The twelve genin entered the office together, bowing before their kage, straightening only when they were told to stand at ease, however none of them were at ease as they awaited the results.

"All twelve of you have showed skills unique to your own styles as well as skills that mould yourselves with others- both of which are necessary skills for this line of work. From order of how you are standing I will state your strengths and weaknesses and then I shall state who passed."

He looked over at a document as if it actually had something written on it when Naruto knew it didn't.

"Ebisu, your fine control over your chakra is commendable and easily adaptable to many others, and your calm during hard pressed scarios is something we look for in our shinobi. I would suggest you to specialise in genjutsu or ninjutsu- what route you take from there is you own decision to make. There is also the option for other things such as puppeteering and all those are on this paper." He pulled out a paper from the stack he had beside him and handed in to Ebisu.

It carried on like this for everyone, each person getting a small laydown on what they could do, what they couldn't do and what could specialize in if applicable.

Naruto much preferred not having just one specialization. She much preferred the route Kakashi sensei had taken- not specialising in a singular thing but to be proficient enough at everything.

Sure she liked fuinjutsu, ninjutsu and kenjutsu however she was good at kinjutsu, basics of iryo ninjutsu, very basics of genjutsu and much more.

Finally it was her turn, "Naruto, you showed great know capabilities in many areas, ninjutsu, fuinjutsu, taijutsu and kenjustu especially. You have the makings of a great shinobi. Whilst you didn't look at everything with a level head as your two teammates I believe it is something you could easily take control over if you actually tried." She cringed at having been caught.

"I have no advise for you, your path is entirely your own due to your all-round capabilities." He clapped his hands together, drawing in all of their attention, "Now for those who have made chunin." Once again he looked at a document and this time it actually did have writing on it.

"Everyone, know that we thought long and hard this time round, each of you having the abilities to become chunin soon enough however those who do not make chunin today, know if you work on what I just discussed with you, you may easily become chunin during the next exam."

He looked at each of them and saw the determination in their eyes to move forward no matter what and he began to recite those who passed, "Shizune, Kurenai, Hayate, Ebisu, Rin and Naruto. You six have become chunin. Please accept these jackets and new titles, wearing them both with honour and dignity best befitting a chunin."

Naruto tuned out the rest of what the old man was saying, trying to process the fact that,  _despite_  having tried to  _butcher_  her own exam by being rash she had still been made chunin.

It didn't make sense. No one in their right mind would allow someone as recless as she had been during the final rounds to become chunin.

But now that she thought about it,  _Obito_  had been made chunin and he tended to act more idiotic tan she had when she had original been a genin. And she no one teaching had no one to teach her otherwise whereas Obito did.

Robotically, she accepted her new shinobi card and jacket, choosing not to put it on due to its terrible colours, she'd do something about that later.

Bowing once more, they left the hokage office, some ecstatic for becoming chunin, others driven to achieving their goal within their next exam. Naruto was the only one that shared neither of those feelings.

She looked back at the doors she had just left and went back inside them, closing them behind her as she did so. "Why?" was all she asked, wanting to know what would possess the man to do this. She was only supposed to see what the exams were like, not pass them.

The sandaime signalled for everyone to leave, his ANBU being the only ones to remain. "From the day you arrived I have either watched you myself or my ANBU have. Within you I see a fire that could burn a forest within its wake in just a few minutes. Not even I, the sandaime hokage chosen by the nidaime hold a will of fire to that degree.

"You sabotaged yourself however I know of you capabilities as do those on the chunin exam council. Your status as jinchuriki was also a factor we too into account and considered there was a lot more to teach a  _chunin_  than there was a genin." Well, when he put it like that, she supposed it made sense.

It was illegal to teach genin a lot of things, however there was no such barring when it came to chunin, except kinjutsu of course.

.

.

.

AUGUST- 28 MONTHS

..-..

After coming back from a B rank mission with her team she shunshined to the apartment and saw Jiraiya, not having been expecting him for another few days at the least.

He had been away for the last three weeks, duty calling him to the front lines once again as both Tsunade and Orochimaru had been forced to stay within the village.

All her annoyance she had been feeling towards him went down the drain when she took in his appearance. He wasn't injured, physically, but his face and body language pointed to heartache.

He looked as if Tsunade had turned him down with more hurtful words than Gamabunta could even come up with. And he could speak the old language.

Slowly Naruto went over to where Jiraiya was sitting, taking a seat I front of him on the table as he was perched on the floor, "Want to talk about what's wrong?"

His chuckle was humourless and cold as was his reply, "You wouldn't get it."

Naruto nodded, "True, there's always the possibility that I don't get something. Just like in my time I didn't know what the pain of loss was until you died. Seeing you like this is painful, sensei, tell me so I can attempt to help. Never disregard the fact I am older than I look."

He looked up at her with cold and detached eyes, "Before I left for this last mission Tsunade spoke to me about how it was a better idea for Orochimaru to go since it was more up his alley. During the mission we lost three of our men, and of course Hime couldn't wait to rub it in my face the fact she was right."

She clenched her jaw as she listened, it seemed like a pattern that this Tsunade would constantly hurt her god-father but this was going too far.

"You think they're dead because she assumed you're incapable of doing a job she ran away from doing herself? She thinks Orochimaru is better suited to have done that mission when he killed the sandaime? If those are her beliefs, she has no right to believe them. You were chosen to lead that mission, not Orochimaru nor her. Don't let her words take you down, sensei."

"That doesn't take away the fact they died under my watch."

"Who died?"

"The Nura trio: Aoi, Hayase and Erika."

Naruto nodded her head as she thought back to the third war documents, she had heard those names before. "Just after the third war, between the sandaime resigning as hokage and Minato being named yondaime, the three of them were killed by order of the sandaime and to-be yondaime for high treason. They had tried- terribly so- to poison the two of them as well as the old council; Homura, Koharu, Danzo and the clan heads. Whether or not they still planned on doing that now is something we'll never know however we know they're dead. Just like several other people in this god forsaken war.

"I'm just justifying their deaths, but know that one day they would have died and at least they went out together instead of leaving one or two to grieve." She wasn't sure if she made him feel any better with her twisted logic but to her it made sense.

Jiraiya looked up and gave her a pained smile, thanking her before excusing himself to take a shower.

When he had locked the bathroom door she made a clone of herself to stay here for anything and the real her went over to the hospital where Tsunade currently was.

It didn't take long to find her, the honourable granddaughter was shouting at one of the nurses about something they had done wrong. It always surprised Naruto to see such a cruel and violent version of Tsunade, considering the yondaime hadn't been killed yet.

Not that she was going to let the yondaime get killed.

Before Tsunade could even register what was going on, she took a hold of the elder woman's arms and shunshined them into the head medic office.

"Do you have to be so cruel to him? We all get that you think he's nothing more than a pervert who flirts a lot but there's no need to be so rude to him. Each of the sannin have their faults, and each of you embrace them." She rushed out, glaring at the woman who had made her adoptive father feel like that.

Tsuande ripped her arm away and Naruto could smell the feint scent of blood but she didn't care at the moment, "I told him what I thought and it would seem I was right."

Instead of letting her jab get to her, Naruto smirked and took a seat, "You sure you should be so cocky,  _granny_ , considering you've been labelling unfit to be on the front lines? Sandaime-sama chooses who goes on those missions  _personally_  so by saying ero-tou-san was unfit to lead that mission is like saying the sandaime is  _unfit_  to hand out missions. I'm sure Shizune would love to hear about the incompetence you think of our sandaime."

Tsuande git her teeth as she glared at the younger, cheeky looking blonde, "I never claimed the sandaime was unfit to decide-"

"However saying to a person chosen by the sandaime to lead a mission was unfit to lead said mission is the equivalent of saying his incompetence."

Tsunade sighed heavily before running her hands over her face, "I'll go over and apologise to him when my next shift is over."

Naruto quirked a brow, "Granny, are you aware of his… unorthodox tendencies." By the look Tsuande gave her, she assumed Tsunade had no clue what she was referring to, "He has a bad habit of taking what you say to heart. He doesn't have a silly crush on you, he's  _in love_  with  _you_  and despite everything, and he has always done what would make you happy. Don't take advantage of that again. Or you'll be on the receiving end of  _my_  wrath."

She surged a small amount of chakra to her eyes, making her blue eyes turn into Kurama's red slit ones.

With that, she left and returned home, beginning to make dinner for two people with large appetites.


	22. Chapter 21

OCTOBER- 30 MONTHS

.

.

 

.

Naruto held back her laugh as she looked at those around her with flabbergast expressions. Minato had finally completed the Rasengan and two days later she showed up to their joint training sessions and showed her rasengan. Technically it was the same as Minato's minus a colour difference however the reason they were all shocked was because she had mastered it so quickly.

She glanced at Jiraiya and Orochimaru who were looking on in amusement, both of them watching everyone's reaction.

Minato looked to the sky and woefully cried out, "Years. I have been working on this monster for  _years_  and she comes along and does it a few  _days_  after completing it!" he cried

Naruto shrugged her shoulders, "I have been helping you with this jutsu for years, and… you can't forget I  _can_  use the jutsu this originated from." Her brother looked back at her and he fist pumped the air, yelling how happy he was over the fact his jutsu wasn't so easy to complete.

"I wouldn't celebrate just yet Minato. You do need to go to sensei and have it marked as kinjutsu. We wouldn't want people walking all over the place with mini  _you-know-what's_." meaning we didn't need people running around with mini bijuu-dama's.

That would be a nightmare.

Minato and Naruto nodded their heads earnestly, ignoring the confused looks of their respective teams before Naruto dropped another bomb on them- so to speak. "I'm learning change in chakra nature so if you're not careful aniki I might just complete your jutsu before you." she gave her brother a cheeky grin and watched as the man glared at her, muttering about how life wasn't fair.

She smirked and was about to say something else when a tremor shook the ground. It wasn't strong enough for most people to notice however they weren't most people. Jiraiya, Naruto, Orochimaru, Minato and Kakashi all glanced at each other and looked to the remaining people. "We need to report to the hokage's office at once, all five of us." Spoke Jiraiya and the five of them took off, Naruto pausing long enough to wave behind before joining them.

When they got to the hokage tower, it seemed as if the five of them weren't the only ones to have felt the tremor as several jonin and some chunin were lined up in the hokage office.

They stood amongst the crowd in the small office and silence remained, some more people entering the office which was when the sandaime spoke, "Iwa seems to be making a bold move. My summons had just reported that Iwa have sent their jinchuriki to the front lines and more specifically, within the battlefield of Kusa. They are using their two jinchuriki to fight off our shinobi at the two bridges, stopping our forces and thereby giving them access to our land.

"Fighting these opponents will not be easy and I will only dispatch those who are prepared for the consequences." He finished off, looking at everyone in the room. Before anyone could reply he carried on, "We do not know the extent of their powers so whoever does go, would be going in with the very little Intel we have."

To everyone's surprise minus Jiraiya and Orochimaru, Naruto rose her hand, "Roshi is the jinchuriki to the four tails. I don't know the full extent of his control over Yonbi however he is able to use at least one tail without losing control however when he gets to Stage 2 he has no control. He uses lava release- his kekkei-genkai- to shroud his body as an armour however he is only able to do it within intervals due to the heat burning the oxygen around him. He is able to use his kekkei-genkai through a mix of earth style and fire style jutsus and is also able to blow clumps of lava at people.

"Han on the other hand is the jinchuriki to the five tails and again I don't know the full extent of his control over Gobi but he can at least use one or maybe two without losing control. However just like Roshi as soon as he enters stage 2 transformation he has no control over himself. He also has a kekkei-genkai- boil release which boils everything around him. He is able to use this to the point where he can push you away to a long distance without even touching you. He mostly uses taijutsu and incorporates his kekkei-genkai into that.

"Another thing that should be noted it Roshi uses curved kunai and the two of them are able to masterfully use their kekkei-genkai through the use of their bijuu's chakra."

She left off there, not knowing what else she could say. She didn't know a lot about the two of them but new this much from when they had been reanimated during the fourth war- hopefully the information was the same as it had been, and if luck was on their side they would be weaker.

Everyone stared shocked at her, not sure how to process the information given to them by an 8 year old when the sandaime didn't have that much information.

Hiruzen took a puff of his pipe before asking, "And how do you know this, Naruto?"

She small a small smile, placing her hand on her belly where her seal was making sure he got the hint before waving her other hand, "I have my ways, sandaime-sama. And my Intel is not wrong." It was better they though the enemy was slightly stronger than to think they were weaker or to go in with nothing to go on.

She had come to the past to fix it, not to allow people to go on suicide missions when she could prevent that from happening.

"What do you mean by stage 2 transformation?"

She let out a nervous laugh, scratching the back of her head, "Stage 2 transformation is when the bijuu takes over and shrouds the body with their chakra. It's red no matter the bijuu and burns the skin as well due to its corrosiveness. In some cases the red chakra doesn't burn you as it depends on the level of control. But the most important part to remember is they have no control in that state and usually the bijuu is in control." She genuinely had no idea how to explain it, she always got burned when she used Kurama's chakra like that however Killer B never had that issue for the duration she had known her.

The sandaime took a seat behind the desk, folding his hands under his chin, "Humour me please, Naruto. How would you go about fighting these two?"

She quirked a brow, "Me personally or how would I get those around me to do it with me? I have my ways that not many can copy." She kept her hand on her stomach and glanced at it briefly, a message the sandaime caught onto.

He nodded to her, "How would you work together with a team to take down our foes?"

Everyone looked on in shock to the hokage, wondering what had possessed the man to ask an 8 year old but then reminded themselves that said eight year old had the Intel on two powerful enemies where their kage had none.

Naruto thought about it for a moment, biting her lip as she raked her brain. She hadn't fought them whilst they were alive so when they had been reanimated Killer B and she had worked to destroy their chakra rod and then kill them.

"Roshi… due to his lava release being able to slow him down, depriving him of further oxygen would work but in doing so you deprive yourself of further oxygen so it would be best not to… When he has his lava cloak activated or even without it, flood him with water and attack with a lightening jutsu to immobilize him. There is of course another method which consist of putting a chakra sealing tag on his but that requires you to be able to touch him which isn't likely.

"Han... you'd have to fight him in close range which is problematic since he is also a close range combatant. Fight him like you would any ordinary shinobi and if you're quick, he won't use Gobi- he's sceptical about using his power…

"There is also the option to subdue them with the Nara clans Shadow Possession jutsu and then attack but since they are jinchuriki, simply overloading their system with the bijuu's chakra can release them of their hold."

The sandaime quirked a hidden brow, "You look like you have something to add."

She shifted where she stood, looking away from her brother, "The best way to fight a jinchuriki is  _with_  a jinchuriki."

Her heard Minato's and Jiraiya's sharp intake of breath at her insinuation which was when Minato tried to talk however the sandaime raised a hand to stop him, looking into Naruto's eyes. "Everyone besides Jiraiya, Orochimaru, Naruto and Minato wait in the room below us, I will call upon you soon."

Naruto chanced a glance at Minato and saw a look of fury within his eyes. Whether he was furious over her suggesting she go onto the front lines or Kushina to go- or even both- she didn't know.

The sandaime took another puff of his pipe, "I understand your feelings Minato. Your lover is a jinchuriki as is your younger sister however they are both powerful- and jinchuriki. As the leader of this village I would be senile to not even entertain the idea of them going to his fight."

Minato grit his teeth, "Kushina can't use Kyuubi's chakra and Naruto gets burnt each time she uses it! What would be the point of sending them to fight people who use the demons powers if they themselves cannot use the power of the demon they house?!" Minato did have a point but it was a stupid one.

Naruto raised her hand, "I can actually use my bijuu's chakra without getting burnt anymore. In fact, the only other jinchuriki with the same level of camaraderie I have with my bijuu would be Killer B. I can even be in full tailed beast mode without any repercussion other than getting tiered- although that gets negated when I use a time-based henge to make my body older." She shrugged her shoulders, when it came to fuinjutsu it was best to not question it and to just go on with it.

Minato turned to her, "You- you…."

Orochimaru quirked a brow, "You have no valid excuse. She is indeed a child however she is a  _chunin_  who is also a  _jinchuriki_. She has better control over the bijuu than Kushina does and such potential shouldn't be allowed to wither away. It should be utilised."

"No offence Orochimaru-sama however I find it hard to believe my little sister is capable of taking down two jinchuriki." He replied in a deadpan voice, a stark comparison to his chakra, swirling around like a storm within his body.

"You seem to forget the fact that she helped you with your jutsu and then showed you it two days after you yourself completed the first stage. She has also signed the toad contract so they will have her back if necessary." Added Jiraiya causing Minato to look at her, confused.

"How many contracts do you have?!"

She titled her head in thought, raising a finger per contract, "Hawk from the Uchiha clan, Toad from dad, Fox from before, and as soon as Orochimaru forks it over- I'll have the snake contract as well." She glared at the sennin who simply chuckled and ruffled her hair causing her to glare further.

"The minute your toads and my snakes get along is the day I let you sign my contract." She puffed out her cheeks. She didn't like Orochimaru but she didn't hate him either which was significant improvement. She wanted the snake contract purely because it was a contract she could handle. She didn't want the slug contract and knew she wouldn't be able to handle it. The only others she could sign was the ape and dog/wolf contract and a few others within the village however those were only clan contracts.

She had been allowed to sign the haw contract from the Uchiha clan because she was on the same team as an Uchiha and was close with the Matriarch of the clan.

"Why do you need so many?" asked the sandaime and she looked at him.

"I don't need that many I just want to have them. The more contracts I have leave people on their toes. When I summon one, who will I summon? There's also the advantage of that each summon has their own unique qualities that can come in handy."

"It's practically unheard of for someone to have more than two- and you already have three under your belt."

She gave him a sheepish smile, "Most people don't sign a contract till after they become chunin or jonin which is usually when they have mastered the techniques they already have and incorporate those new techniques with their old ones. I'm young and have my own technique which constantly changes so it's unpredictable, I have no issue with changing it further with several other contracts."

The men took a step back at the look in her eyes and decided to change the subject, lest they wish to cause her to rant about jutsu, techniques and other such things.

.

.

.

Jiraiya watched as his adoptive daughter went through a full two hours training with Orochimaru before she snapped- in his opinion it was progress. She usually had something to say to his teammate within the first half hour.

Her training regimen had gotten harder as of late in order for her to be allowed onto the frontlines of this war. She needed to be able to handle the strain of Kyuubi's chakra a bit more in her child form before the sandaime would approve of her fighting the four and five tails.

They had opted out of telling Kushina as the red head would destroy them for even entertaining the idea never mind going through with it.

It wasn't like they could ask Kushina to fight on the two other jinchuriki with the way she was at the moment. She spent a lot of energy keeping the bijuu chained within the seal to even entertain the idea of using his chakra for fighting- far too afraid of losing control.

Yet another difference between Naruto and her mother. Naruto, by the time she was Kushina's age, had already befriended the bijuu and merged their chakra completely. She was afraid of what she was the holder of and instead made it her own secret technique to win fights with.

Although, he thought, Naruto hardly ever used Kyuubi's chakra. Her own reserves being vast enough to not require it and despite Kyuubi being able to be a shield for her she didn't use him like that either.

He had asked why she didn't use his chakra more often or her cloak her reply had been,  _"I don't need it. My chakra control isn't the best but it's getting better with Orchiamaru's help. That means I can use a larger variety of jutsu than I could before which was already a large collection. That and I don't think it's necessary unless I'm going against a dangerous enemy and after the war… there was very little people who managed to keep up."_

He had never thought of it that way, and when he considered her words he agreed with them. From the few memories he had been shown he could see the difference in her fighting prowess but also in other aspects as well.

" _I don't get it." She had once stated, frustrated tears falling from her eyes, "My parents had so many friends yet they stood on the sides as they saw me grow up. I'm a whole two and a half inches taller than I was before. They claimed to be close friends of my parents yet when it came to their daughter they did nothing."_

" _Despite that, you don't seem to hold a grudge against them?" he asked more than stated because he wasn't so sure how she felt in comparison to how she looked._

_She shrugged her shoulders before heading back into the fridge to get a drink, "There's little I can do to change my past and holding a grudge won't do any good."_

_He smiled at that, "Your parents are the same. One accepting what couldn't be changed and the other not holding a grudge. Aspects all shinobi need yet do not have."_

Laughter brought him out of his thoughts. Looking over to where the two were training it would seem Naruto managed to send Orochiamru flying… with boil release and burn him with a lava release?

He leaned forward and squinted his eyes at the girl, "I thought you said both boil and lava release were Roshi and Han's kekkei-genkai Naruto?"

His daughter gave him a cheeky grin, eyes twinkling with mischief, "I wasn't lying, they are their kekkei-genkai however I can use many kekkei-genkai. Those two are easy to use since I have some of Son's and Kokuo's chakra inside of me."

He shook his head and smiled at her, she really was too powerful for a girl her age.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For once I updated early! I was really into writing this chapter because I got to re-watch some episodes in order to correctly get info about Roshi and Han.  
> Well I hope you enjoyed this chapter and don't forget to Review!


	23. Chapter 22

_Two weeks later._

.

.

.

Naruto collapsed onto the base of a tree in training ground 24 in her adult form.

“Hmm… you’re getting a lot better at this. Just a little more and you’ll be set to go onto the front lines with little opposition who could stand against you and survive.” Noted Orochimaru as he lowered himself to her level.

Before she could retort a loud voice interrupted, “What the hell?!”

Orochimaru and Naruto turned to look at the person whose voice was unnecessarily loud after a hard training session only to see Teams Minato and Kushina. It had been Obito who had yelled it but apparently Iruka had also said it, perhaps a little quieter.

She breathed in heavily, still trying to catch her breath as she quirked her brow, “What’s up?”

Iruka pointed at her, eyes frantic, “What’s up?! We should be asking that to you! What the hell- How do you- Why do you-” he seemed unable to complete his sentence however he as pointed up and down at her form to show what he meant.

Naruto sighed heavily as Orochimaru answered, “It is special training. Her eight year old body can’t handle the strain of certain things so we are training her with her elder body.”

“How did she transform into her elder body?” asked Rin as she came over to heal Naruto.

Naruto’s eyes widened as she stood up and jumped back, hitting her back into the bark of another tree. Orochimaru leaped in front of her, kunai raised to the medic nin whose steps faltered.

“You should know by now, Naruto does not allow people to heal her.” his s’s turning into a hiss that even Naruto became shocked by it.

Rin’s hands stopped glowing as she bowed, “I apologise.” Naruto could smell the feint scent of sweat everyone was emitting before releasing her transformation.

She gasped at the sudden shock, her body feeling more lethargic than she had thought it would be. Orochimaru turned around, notebook and pen out, writing what he saw.

“It would seem… you still feel it when you transform back. Perhaps if we changed the seal…” he carried on mumbling to himself about different methods and ways they could ensure she wouldn’t feel too much when she transformed back.

“There’s not much we can do about that now. We’ve done the best that we can.” Spoke Jiraiya, appearing out of nowhere beside his teammate.

He looked at Naruto, ignoring those behind him as he gave her his hand- a hand she took without registering it. Once she was on her feet she felt a stabbing pain in her stomach, more specifically in her seal.

 _‘What’s wrong, Kurama?’_ she asked, entering the seal.

Kurama didn’t answer her straight away, looking in the general direction of three o’clock. _**‘My siblings are causing more trouble on your borders. They have taken over their jinchuriki.’** _

Her eyes widened and she left the seal, returning to everyone else It hadn’t been more than a moment in their time however that mere moment was the most important.

“Son Goku and Kokuo have taken over Roshi and Han.” She stated, knowing only the sages around her would now what she was going on about.

Their eyes widened as Minato took a hold of the three of them, teleporting them into the hokage’s office in the middle of a meeting. A meeting Danzo, Homura and Koharu thought was important as they began to yell at them for insubordination.

“Han and Roshi have been taken over.” the sandaime’s eyes widened, showing an emotion his council hadn’t thought he would show.

He stood up abruptly, “How fast can you get to the border?”

“I’ve not been to that border before so I can’t use the hiraishin to get there.” She replied.

“The battalion there, their medical squad have one of my hiraishin kunai in case of emergencies, I can use that to teleport us there.” Added Minato, eyes hard as he looked into the eyes of his kage.

“All four of you, go there together and take down our enemy, no matter the price.” Minato’s fist clenched, nails digging into his palm to break the skin slightly but not enough to draw blood.

The four of them bowed before Minato once again took a hold of them, teleporting them to the medical ninja’s base.

.

.

.

They had no need to find their enemy, nor to find the medical corps as their enemy was there, destroying the surroundings with their corrosive chakra- burning it all.

Not even a moment after touching ground, a tail came their way so immediately Naruto activated her chakra cloak. She had already transformed into her adult form back in the hokage’s office so there was no worry of wearing herself out even if she was slightly tiered already.

It was easier to take down angry bijuu than it would have been to take down Roshi and Han- she shouldn’t have to kill the two of them.

“Aniki, teleport the survivors back to Konoha, the three of us will deal with these two.” She felt no room for arguing in her order, an order he listened to. Not surprising, sandaime-sama had stated during the first meeting that she would be captain of this attack when the time came.

When Minato left, teleporting to and fro from the battlefield to Konoha Naruto turned her attention back to Son and Kokuo. Coating her body with Kurama’s chakra, both bijuu turned to face her, stopping their rampage.

“Can you two cut it out or I swear I’ll bite.” Spoke Kurama from her mouth having temporarily taken over. He seemed to like the idea of knocking his siblings down a peg.

Neither of them replied in a tongue she understand and instead chose to roar at her, charging at her with their red coated bodies.

She sighed, figuring she was going to have to fight them. Releasing her tails she wrapped one around Son as she created a boulder sized bijuu-dama and aided it at Kokuo, knocking him to the ground as Jiraiya placed a seal on him which forced him back into his seal.

She made another, smaller in size as Son was closer and once again aimed it at her fellow jinchuriki, watching as Orochimaru placed a similar seal on him and like Kokuo, forced Son back into his seal.

Jiraiya looked at her perplexed, “That’s it? After all that training and planning this is all it took?”

Naruto gave a nervous chuckle, “They had both taken over Roshi and Han so instead of fighting two kekkei-genkai wielding shinobi, we were fighting petulant bijuu. If Roshi and Han were in control it would have been harder. Also, there is the little fact that none of the nine bijuu would hurt me.” she shrugged her shoulders, unsure what else she could say as Jiraiya face-palmed.

“Bijuu taken down by the fact they can’t consider harming their adoptive mother.” Muttered Jiraiya as Orochimaru massaged his head, as if trying to remove the whole situation from his mind.

Naruto went over to the two jinchuriki, placing chakra suppression seals on them, powerful enough to suppress the bijuu chakra as well as they waited for Minato.

“You know, we could always go back via my own hiraishin, right?” asked Naruto a few minutes into waiting for him and the two sannin looked to her.

“With two other jinchuriki? No.” they spoke simultaneously caused her to raise her hands in surrender.

.

.

.

FEBRUARY- 34 MONTHS-

..--..

“Didn’t I specifically say you couldn’t practise senjutsu until you turned ten?! Look what’s happened!” yelled an irate Jiraiya, pointing to the trees that had grown within their home as she had been sleeping.

She sheepishly rubbed the back of her head, letting out a nervous chuckle, “I wasn’t going far with my senjutsu, working on absorbing only a small amount every day to amp up my sensory skills. Without absorbing small amounts it would be near impossible for me to feel what’s around me. I’m not a natural sensor- I worked for it back in my time which is what I’m trying to do now.”

“But you haven’t been absorbing small amounts. You’ve absorbed enough nature chakra that it’s changed your chakra coils. You now have many _natural_ affinities.” He crossed his arms as he pierced her with a stern look.

“I don’t see the issue. I could use all nature types before.” She genuinely had no idea what he was so upset about.

“You learnt those affinities. Now, those affinities are natural- which isn’t natural!”

Orochimaru stood in front of Jiraiya, “What he means is it is now problematic that you can use the Mokuton. Danzo already wanted you in his ranks so if he gets wind of you being a user of the shodai’s own jutsu, it will be problematic.”

Naruto raised her hands in exasperation, “How is it problematic? You’ve already created a person capable of using the wood style better than I can! And right now, said person is in the Foundation.”

Orochimaru sighed as he massaged his head, “Whilst that is true, do you think he will be happy with just one when he finds out there are two?”

With that she faltered, “Well… I… I suppose not.” She knew too well what his greed was like, and if she ever wavered in her thoughts of the war hawk- all she need do was think of Sasuke who had been made an orphan by the mans greed.

“As long as you understand. Do not use the Mokuton, do not speak of being able to use it and refrain from thinking about it lest we wish for this incident to reoccur.” With that, the snake sennin led Jiraiya out of the room by the arm, insisting the man help with dinner for once.

She hadn’t intended for her to mess with her coils, hadn’t thought absorbing such small amounts of nature chakra would- _could_ \- even do such a thing yet she stood corrected.

In theory it made sense, chakra was a natural source within the body and at her age where her coils were still developing it made slight sense that external chakra, should it be entered into her system, would change her coils.

She hadn’t thought it a possibility considering she had Kurama’s chakra messing up her coils since she was born, the possibility that nature could mess them up further was beyond her expectations. If anything, she assumed nature would fix what his chakra did to her.

**_‘You make it seem like I’m damaging you.’_ **

_‘Not so much damaging as… rearranging.’_

Kurama huffed, **_‘Well of course I need to rearrange, your mind is a horrid place to be in and your chakra coils were so pathetic, changes had to be made for the greater good.’_**

Naruto sighed but did not argue with him, if it wasn’t for him she would be long dead or perhaps even a completely different person and that was a prospect she didn’t want to think of.

Hastily so she could go back to sleep she undid the jutsu and tucked herself back into bed, only for her window to be broken into as a person entered.

She eyes widened as she threw two kunai at the intruder reflexively, pinning him to the wall. Said intruder was a member of the ANBU and she furrowed her brows, unsure why he was breaking into her room so noisily when he could have teleported in without breaking her damn window.

Having heard the crash, Jiriaya and Orochimaru entered, weapons ready to attack the assailant only to see him pinned to the room.

“Do you care to explain why you just broke into my daughter’s room late at night, Turtle?” asked Jiraiya, his voice like his aura- cold.

The ANBU, Turtle, removed himself from the wall and returned her kunai to her, kneeling on the ground to look her in the eyes, “Lord Third has summoned you to the office for a mission, Namikaze-san. I also wish to apologise for my imprudent entrance, I was told it was hihghighlyent and to get your attention by any means necessary.”

With those words Naruto bolted out of bed, ignoring the fact she was only in Ero-sennin’s happi which she had yet to return and walked into her closet to get changed. It didn’t take long and she hastily attached her bandages, kunai pouch, back pouches and left the closet.

Turtle had already left, most likely to report he had called her or to summon the rest of her team and she hiraishined into the hokage office.

.

.

.

The sandaime’s face was grimmer than usual and Naruto was sure she could see a new white hair amongst his brown ones as he levelled them with a tiered stare. He wasn’t only physically tiered but emotionally as well, and Naruto knew he wanted nothing more than for this war to end so he could step down as hokage.

“I apologise for summoning you so late in the night however I must as you, Team Kushina, to take this mission. Usually you would be given a choice whether or not you would take part in a mission however I’m afraid you do not have the option this time.” The team concealed their surprised well, it was rare for a team to not have the chance to opt-out.

If they were ANBU it made sense, however they were your average four man cell- she stopped her train of thought when she remembered a small fact. Both she and Kushina were jinchuriki, if the sandaime was saying they didn’t have a choice it was most likely because of that. Or their client had stated they wanted this team.

“We’ve just received word that the Seven Ninja Swordsman of the Mist have joined the war, whether by the word of the Mizukage or not is clear. They have taken their stance at the border of Yugakure and the Land of Fire. Your mission is to intercept them and keep them away from our lands as much as you can.

“Currently you are the only team with the capabilities for both infiltration, sabotage and combat in the village. These scrolls hold further details about this mission, next steps the village will take and the next steps _you_ should take. Remember to send word daily, whilst this is a dangerous mission I would like each of you to return to your homes. To your families.”

He indicated for his ANBU to come closer, four in total, each carrying several other scrolls most likely containing provisions they hadn’t brought with them.

“These contain food, rations, pills, clothes and supplies you will require during your mission.” Each person was given a scroll with their names on it, leading Naruto to believe each one had been custom made for them which made her curious to see what was in each one to see what hers had that the boys didn’t have.

“Kushina-san, Naruto-san, please drink these before leaving and ensure to take the medication provided.”

All of Team Kushina’s faces’ were tinted pink, knowing just what the medication was they were asking them to drink and they did. Naruto and Kushina were by no means ashamed or shy of their bodily functions, however they didn’t usually talk about it in front of the boys.

Hell, Naruto had no need to drink it and most likely wouldn’t for another few years however considering she ate a lot, it was possible that she would have need for it.

"You leave in two hours with a medic and will be gone for quite some time so be sure to do whatever you need to do. You will meet at the gate and leave immediately after so do not be late. You are dismissed." 

They all left their respective ways, Naruto via hiraishin as she contemplated how much she had fucked up the past since she was almost certain they hadn't taken part in this war. At least, they hadn't done anything she recalled till after the war was over when they took Rin.

Going into the living room of her home she saw Orochimaru sleeping on the floor beside Jiraiya who was trying to squeeze the man's ninexistant boobs, clearly having a perverted dream. The sight made her want mental bleach to remove it from her memory and she was actually tempted for Kurama to erase it from her mind completely. 

She gathered the rest of her supplies such as more ink, scrolls, finished seals and other things she thought would be necessary for the mission before leaving a note for the two Sannin, letting them know what was going on and to make sure they damn well cleaned up, ate properly and remembered to feed the plants in the garden or they'd have to deal with _Kurama_. 

The fox was very touchy when it came to nature.

One hour and fifty-five minutes after the meeting, five minutes early, everyone had gathered and introduced themselves. Their medic was a single lady who was twenty-five, Mei Aburame. She was skilled in infiltration, her clan techniques and with her refined chakra control, she was capable of using iryo ninjutsu on the field.

With haste they made their way to Yugakure, Naruto using the hiraishin to take them to the border of the Land of Fire without much issue however, they had to run the rest of the way as she hadn’t been to Yugakure before in this time.

It didn’t take them long to reach their destination, having to go southwards from where they had been teleported. Half a day of travelling, they stopped to make camp where they remained, Naruto making fuinjutsu-blood clones to stay on watch with the other person and they would be sensing for anything out of the ordinary.

Even if it was an odd coloured bird that shouldn’t be in the area.

.

.

.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the changes have been made and posted both here and FF. They fixed their maintenance issues late last night but I managed to upload it all. YAY!
> 
> This mission will take either one or two chapters as this is important! Mei Aburame is a character I made up and as far as I am aware, there is no other Aburame named Mei.
> 
> I’ll be started the next chapter soon so if we’re all lucky I’ll get it done this week sometime and hopefully I can get it up by next week and if not, know I’m working on it. It may take a while since I want to be careful with these next few chapters because of reasons I can’s saw without giving spoilers.
> 
> Don’t forget to comment your thoughts! Till next time!


	24. Guys i need to clear this up

Guys, I wanna answer a few questions from the comments here from the last chapter.

Danzo is alive- please reread from the beginning because I have made changes to the plot as I have said previously.

Also, Team Kushina have not gone to FIGHT the swordsmen but to SABOTAGE them. They won’t have to have any contact with the swordsmen at all from the mission description.

Why was the fight between Naruto and the other two bijuu so short and simple? They _weren’t trying_ to kill her, so when she took a hold of them they allowed her to reseal them.

Turtle could not shunshin into her apartment because there are barrier seal around the house preventing unknown chakra’s to enter the house like that.


	25. Chapter 23

“You know.”  Begun Iruka, taking a bite of his rice ball he had bought with him for the mission, “I don’t know what the 7 swordsman are?”

Shisui looked up from him own bento and replied, “They’re the seven ninja swordsmen of the mist.”  He stated it as a fact he should have already known which to be fair wasn’t mandatory however due to it being war time they were encouraged to learn about all the special forces in each of the villages.

“That’s not very specific.” Iruka replied, squinting his eyes as if trying to recall when he may have heard about them.

Naruto placed her bento to the side, “The seven swordsmen are people who have mastered the art of using Kirigakure’s seven swords. Not just anyone can use them so should you meet a person who can use them, ideally you’d run the other way but that’s not possible here.” She had drawn in the attention of everyone around, everyone wanting to know more about the swordsmen than they already did.

“I don’t know a lot about the _people_ who wield them at the moment however I know some facts. In alphabetical order there’s; Hiramekarei known as Twinsword, a bandaged sword with double handles which can store and emit the wielders chakra which can then take different forms.

“The next is Kabutowari known as Bluntsword but also known as Helmet Splitter, which consist of a single sided axe and a hammer joint together by long chain which can apparently break any defence.

“The third is Kiba known as Fangs but also known as Thunderswords. These are twin swords with lighting in it which increases its cutting power.

“The fourth is Kubikiribocho known as Seversword or the Executioners blade- some even call it the Decapitating Carving Knife. It has a butcher’s knife appearance but it’s nearly as tall as my brother. It has a semi-circle on the blade to… well decapitate someone. It also has a perfectly circular hole in it which is head size- I bet you can guess what that does.” She looked as saw Iruka and Shisui looked sick at the prospect. “If the sword is cracked or broken it has the ability to regenerate and become sharper using the iron in blood.

“The next is Nuibari known as Longsword or Sewing needle. It’s given that name because it’s the shape of a needle with a thin wire that looks like thread attached to it which can be used to pierce their enemies and… sew them back together in human bundles.

“The sixth is Samehada.” She grimaced causing everyone to raise their brows. She _hated_ Samehada. “It’s known as Greatsword and Shark Skin because it has the appearance of a giant knife covered in shark scales. It’s the most terrifying of the seven swords because it’s _sentient_ \- it’s alive and chooses who can and can’t wield it. It also has the ability to eat chakra.” She shivered as she recalled Kisame and Killer B using the monstrous blade.  

“The last of the swords is Shibuki known as Blastsword or Splash. Behind the blade is incorporated with explosive tags that never wear off which combines swordsmanship with explosions. Doesn’t leave a very pretty sight.” Everyone shivered as they thought about what an explosive sword can do.

She sighed as she thought about the wielders of those blades.  She didn’t have a lot to go on, just the mission report from when Might Dai had died and even then, only five out of the seven had been names.

“Out of the seven I only know the names of five and which blade they weild. Jinin has Kabutowari, Raiga has Kiba, Fuguki has Samehada, Juzo has Kubikiribocho and Kushimaru has Nuibari. Any questions?” she asked, thinking she may have forgotten something which they might ask on.

Shisui was the one to ask, “How would you fight them if each sword has a unique trait? I mean, a sword than can make you explode and another which can eat your chakra?”

She thought about it for a moment, after all she hadn’t fought the swordsmen when they had been reanimated, then during the war the only swordsman who had lived had been Choujiro. After the war had ended no one had sparred in front of her using the swords.

“Not all the blades were forged for fighting. Take Samehada and Kubikiribocho for example, one is for killing and the other for executions. They all have different qualities but that means they can’t really be used in mid to long range combat. If we can trap them in seals or Shadow Possession to make sure they don’t move it’d be easier on us, because then we can deal with them afar. However, if you can get the blade off them is another method. Or with Samehada you can just use taijutsu. It can only take your chakra if you use your chakra.” HA! So that was what she was forgetting.

No one spoke a word after that, getting back to eating as they contemplated for the first time what they were really up against. It wouldn’t be Naruto’s first time going against one the swordsmen however it would be the first time she had to do so against all seven.

She could only hope that they wouldn’t show their faces till after reinforcements arrived. Even with Kurama’s power, it was hard to work around them. Unless she wanted to kill them all but that was an entirely different story.

Of course, Lady Luck was not on her side as not even ten minutes after they had finished eating, a thin blade with two thorn like blades protruding out of it came down and would have pierced through Naruto if she hadn’t jumped out of its path.

The blade broke the thick branch she had been sitting on, drawing the attention of the rest of Team Kushina. “Well would you look at this. We’ve got a bunch of tree lovers in our midst.” Naruto was thankful the man didn’t attack her with a lightning attack because she doubted Iruka would have been able to dodge it, who had been sitting near her on the next branch.

Team Kushina jumped together, looking around to see Fuguki, Jinin, Kushimaru, Raiga, Juzo, and two others she didn’t know the names of. The one with Shibuki had dark glasses on like an Aburame, a green sweater and a cloth tied around his mouth. The other who had Choujiro’s blade- Hiramekarei had chest armour like the ANBU’s but slightly darker in colour and brown hair in the shape of a triangle.

 ** _‘Of all the rotten luck.’_** Groaned Kurama in her mind yet she paid him no heed. She already knew they were in trouble and didn’t need him to point it out.

“You missed, Raiga.” Spoke Juzo who in her opinion was scarier than Fuguki who had Samehada.

Naruto knew there was no way the five of them could take down the seven swordsmen. If it had only been a few it would have been possible but this was futile to even _consider_ fighting.

She ignored the swordsmen chatting to themselves as she focused on everyone’s chakra, locking a small thread of it onto the swordsmen. Once she had made sure they had her chakra stuck to them, she focused on her teams’ chakra, locking on to the chakra she had imprinted onto them and teleported them further south, back into the Land of Fire.

Kushina turned around looked at her wide eyed, “Why did you send us back here?!”

“Because there’s no way we would have been able to deal with _all 7 of the Ninja Swordsmen of the Bloody Mist_! If there was only a few of them, that would have been manageable but it’s impossible to fight 7 _monsters_ of shinobi despite our statuses.”  She growled back, Kurama growling in her mindscape at the tone his previous host was using on her.

“We have a mission to complete you can’t just-”

“How do you expect us to complete the mission when we’re dead? Which is what would have happened to us if we stayed there.” She sighed and decided to take a different approach, “Look sensei, there’s no time mark on this mission. We’re here to sabotage Kiri for as long as it takes. Whether it be a month or four or even a year; there – is – no – rush.” She paused between the words to emphasise the fact they had as long as needed.

“And should they-”

“There is nothing you can say that will change the facts. If they decide to attack we’ll leave again. Let them chase us around, it’d be a wonderful way to sabotage their attack if they focus on us instead of Konoha.” Because at the end of the day, they were there to sabotage and infiltrate, not fight- fighting was only a last resort and only if they couldn’t escape.

No one said anything after that but she knew they all understood the message. If they had to fight the seven swordsmen it would be S rank but this mission was labelled A rank. Hell, if Naruto was hokage she would have make it as S rank and given it to ANBU. They all needed stress relief and she thought they could use the time to prank the enemy.

.

.

.

The universe had given them a break which was very kind for the last week and a half as they used her shadowclones and her multitude of summons to confuse and lure away the swordsmen away for the borders.

So far, their plan of sabotage was going well, they had been joined by team Daichi consisting of Mizuki, Shizu Yamanaka and Tadase Nara who had all graduated with her. A few days after they had arrived, a few members of the ANBU, Foundation, two Hyuuga, one Uchiha and an Inuzuka had also arrived to assist them.

With the extra hands they had managed to keep the swordsmen off them for some time and Naruto was pleased about that. Several of her clones had had run-ins with the swordsmen however after that one incident, they had divided into groups of two, two and three.

Despite her apprehensions of Mizuki she managed to work well with him during the mission despite having never been able to do so when they had been in the academy.

Mizuki was surprisingly very good at sabotaging the enemy’s route with no regard to the destruction he left in his wake. It was quite funny, he had left hidden seals with itching powder in on a branch that Hirameikari’s wielder had landed on and she had to refrain from laughing as he had been scratching none-stop as he cursed all of them.

One thing that should be noted was the difference between the two teams. Team Kushina made it a point to never stop training, even if they’re on a mission. This was something their joint team did not do and when they saw Shisui and Naruto sparring they had assumed the two teammates had had a falling out.

It had taken sometime to calm them down and inform them they had been sparring only for them to receive horrified looks over how strange their team was.

Naruto failed to see what was so odd, Team Minato and Team Kakashi had always trained during mission time. Hell, Kakashi-sensei had taught them tree-walking when they had been on a C rank turned A rank mission against Zabuza.

When on missions it was best to these sort of things, on field practice, in her opinion, was the best type of practise.

Of course, things had way of turning to bad constantly in her life.

.

.

.

Naruto felt like stabbing someone. Repeatedly. Hopefully killing them in the process.

As it stood, she had five people here that she and Kurama would kill. The only downside to this situation; she couldn’t use her chakra cloak around the Aburame. She’d have to relocate as she wasn’t used to the feel of Kurama’s heavy chakra.

**_‘Excuse me! My chakra is luscious! Not heavy!’_ **

_‘Keep telling yourself that Kurama. We all know that it’s far too heavy for people to handle.’_ She muttered back.

 ** _‘They are simply not meant to use the chakra of the Kyuubi no Kitsune.’_** He raised his head high and Naruto chose to allow him to do as he pleased, thinking of a way to get them all out of this situation.

She tried to focus on everyone’s chakra and hiraishin them away yet found that she couldn’t.

Fuguki looked smug in their direction, “Can’t leave, can you Namikaze?” he asked the question however Naruto knew he knew she couldn’t.

She glared at his with Kurama’s crimson red eyes, “What did you do?”

It was Juzo who replied, “Took a leaf out of the Uzumaki books. Fuinjutsu.” Naruto and Kushina hissed at him, Kushina channelling Kurama’s chakra as well as her eyes changed into the same colour.

“You have no right-” Naruto began only to be interrupted.

“We don’t particularly care. We won the war against Uzushio so we got the spoils of that war.” Interrupted Jinin and Naruto refrained from tearing his spine out _with her teeth_.

Kushina smirked with her elongated fangs, “If memory serves me right, you had to ally with Iwa to take down Uzushiogakure. My home wasn’t even the size of Kiri. Yet I recall your forces being diminished after that battle.”

Naruto held back her smirk. Kushina Uzumaki gave jibes like those of Onoki- subtle reminders and no need to threaten as their abilities spoke for themselves.

It was then that all hell broke loose.

Jinin came for Naruto and Kushina, Naruto using her bijuu mode- ignoring the ramifications it would later have on her. Kushina unleashed her chakra chains and Naruto refrained from staring in awe as they glowed gold, piercing the handles of Kabutowari into the ground.

Naruto took that chance to create a rasengan, aiming it to the man’s torso however the dark haired male dodged- barely- leaving the rasengan to tear at his cloak.

Naruto didn’t allow that to stop her as she used Kurama’s chakra to create another arm and hand from her stomach, clutching the man in a tight grip, not allowing him to leave and burning him with her Kurama’s chakra as well.

Using the opportunity, she created another rasengan and this time, it tore at him and his torso, spewing his guts on the ground and her clothes yet she barely paid any heed to it.

Kushina released the chains from Kabutowari and Naruto noticed the rest of the battles. Everyone seemed to be struggling as not everyone had bijuu on their side.

Naruto channelled the sage chakra into her right arm only, allowing it to protect her arm as she made a clone to help with created the rasenshuriken. Sure, she wasn’t supposed to know how to make it, but that wasn’t on her mind when she had seen Mizuki and Iruka get struck by Juzo’s blade.

It didn’t hit him however it did hit Kubikiribocho, cutting the Executioner’s blade in half, the other half landed some distance away.

Juzo snarled at her and Naruto was disturbed at his face, the scar, the red lines and the sharp teeth made for a terrible combination so add those to a snarling face…

He launched another attack at her teammates however the ANBU and Foundation members who had come with them had taken down their enemy- Hiramekarei’s wielder- intercepted the attack, ANBU holding back Juzo as the Foundation pierced him just below his heart.

Everyone, Naruto included, turned around when a scream was heard. Fuguki had used Samehada to take down their Inuzuka teammate’s ninken. The scream had been the cry of the woman who a moment later had been killed.

Naruto cringed at the line-up, all of those against Fuguki and Samehada were people who relied on using chakra.

The next moment had everyone holding their breath and Naruto reacted instinctively. Without even forming the hand seals she switched with Shisui before Samehada could cut him.

Samehada cut her instead, feeding off her chakra which she was using- her chakra cloak. Thanks to having her chakra cloak activated, she wasn’t as injured as she should have been however her relief was short lived when she noticed she couldn’t move.

She looked down and noticed a thin thread tying her feet together and her eyes widened knowing exactly what that thread was from. Less than a moment after, she felt a thin yet very sharp object pierce the corner of her heart.

By that point, her chakra cloak had been deactivated and as she began to fall, she could hear her name being yelled however all she paid attention to was Kurama- keeping the bijuu from taking over and killing everyone he could see for harming her.

.

.

.

The sandaime’s face was grim as he looked at the latest report. He had made many decisions in life- decisions he could live with and decisions which haunted his waking hours and kept him in doubt. Alas, he was hokage and had to live with the decisions he had made and would continue to do so till he died.

Naruto’s heart had stopped beating, Team Daichi had one teammate remaining, the Inuzuka dead, her ninken dead, and one of the Foundation were dead. Overall, it had been a mission than had gone both right and wrong, the swords they gained had done nothing to relieve the pain in his heart over the news.

The rest of the report had weighed on him further which was why he had summoned Team Minato to his office.

He looked at all of them and he knew they knew what he was about to say was important. Hiruzen did not usually give the missions himself _on his own_ and when he did it was a grave situation.

“Team Minato. Your mission is to go to the Hidden Grass and destroy Kannabi Bridge- stopping Iwa from breaching our nation.”

He could live with this final decision before he could retire, he though, but how wrong he was.

.

.

.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well….. This was hard. I had to constantly look up info and it was a pain in the arse but I managed it in the end. Yay me! I'm taking a small mental break for a few days before I start up the new chapter!
> 
> Also I apologise if I sounded rude in the explanation chapter however I had to quickly type that up since I was busy when I did that.
> 
> Don't forget to comment and I'll see you all next time!


	26. Chapter 24

Shisui couldn’t speak for everyone, however for him, time stopped. No, not stopped, he realised, it had slowed down.

Naruto had been pierced and was most likely dead because he hadn’t moved. It was his fault.

Before he knew what was happening he was next to her, clutching her to him before he moved again. Shisui didn’t recall moving his legs though, so he wasn’t sure _how_ he was moving, but he knew he wasn’t in the same place.

His eyes were wide as he tried looking for her pulse, from her neck to her wrist to placing his ear to her chest- he couldn’t find one.

Shisui felt red hot anger and guilt both crush his body, a stone forming his in stomach as he felt the need to vomit however his anger won out at the moment.

Without knowing how, or where, a green figure cocooned around him and Naruto. The figure looked skeletal yet it managed to close its fist around Samehada’s wielder- Fuguki- and crushed him in its hold. Shisui rejoiced in his cries of anguish as it slammed the man into the masked man wielding Nuibari who had no time to dodge the attack.

Before the green skeletal figure could attack again, another member of the swordsmen arrived, the one wielding Kiba and he used a water shunshin to take them all away, even the dead as he was helped by the remaining swordsman.

Shisui felt a stabbing pain in his eyes as the green figure vanished into him, leaving his feeling heavily drained before he turned to look at Naruto who lying next to Iruka.  

She didn’t look dead, if anything she looked like she was asleep. Shisui had seen her asleep enough times to know what she looked like and he knew the sight before him was going to haunt him forever.

Iruka held her hand with wide, teary eyes as he tried to also feel for a pulse. Shisui squinted his eyes when he noticed something, whilst her heart was not beating his sharingan could still detect her chakra moving inside of her.

It wasn’t possible. When people died their chakra died with them and entered into the earth as nature took the chakra it had given to a soul.

Shisui fell next to her, hands in position as he pressed into her chest in hopes of getting her to breathe. 30 compressions, 5 resuscitations, 30 compressions, 5 resuscitations. He didn’t stop, not even when Mei Aburame began to heal her.

He had only stopped when he was pulled off his teammate and crushed to Kushina sensei’s abdomen, the woman’s tears falling onto his hair as he struggled against her.

He didn’t hear the words she said to him, he couldn’t hear _anything_ and that scared him- he couldn’t hear Naruto breathing.

.

.

.

Kakashi, Rin, Obito and Raido rudged their way through the forest as Minato went the opposite direction. Raido had been made team captain as the only other jonin available capable of handling the teams internal bickering.

Minus a short argument at the beginning of the mission, everything was going smoothly. They had infiltrated the enemy lines into Grass and had yet to be detected. They had changed their clothes and wore Grass headbands to blend in in hopes of not being found out at all.

But there was something wrong. They had yet to see any shinobi. Nor could Kakashi or his hounds smell any enemy. It was the exact opposite of what they had been expecting.

Even if Kusa wasn’t there, there should have been Iwa shinobi however there weren’t any there. They had barely seen any civilian either.

It made no sense. The village hadn’t been evacuated however there was no one there suggesting that it had. Yet, had there been an official evacuation Konoha would have noticed.

They were back in a forest-like area, about to take a break when a loud bang emanated in the large area, echoing against the trees. The team stood back-to-back a moment later, kunai in hand as they looked in all directions, trying to find where the sound had come from.

Just as Obito thought he knew where the sound came from, another bang came from the direction Rin was facing and then again another where Kakashi was facing and the same with Raido.

“The enemy’s toying with us. They don’t know who Konoha sent so they’re trying to confuse us as they try to figure out who we are and it won’t take them long, especially since you guys are all Namikaze-san’s students.” Explained Raido as he unsheathed his blade- Kokuto.

Fog suddenly appeared to limit their field of vision, although they had given their position away by coming closer to them without covering their scent.

A kick came Rin’s way which Kakashi managed to block with crossed arms, forcing the enemy backwards. He took a glance at the man’s headband- Iwa. Kakashi’s smirk was hidden behind his mask as he unsheathed his katana- a gift from Lord Jiraiya and Naruto, and charged his chidori through it.

The blade lit up as the sound of birds screeching rang through the forest, a sound Team Minato and Raido were used to hearing the sound so it did nothing to their ears, but Iwa shinobi were no so they paused during their second attack.

It was an opening Team Raido took full advantage of as they lashed out at their enemy, knocking out some and killing the others. Hopefully they would be able to get answers out of the ones they had left alive and tied up but Raido reminded himself not to have much hope.

Iwa were as stubborn as a boulder.

.

.

.

Mei Aburame was not old nor was she young. She was no expert on the fields of war however she had fought in this war. She was not as skilled as Lady Tsunade when it came to iryo ninjutsu however she had done her research. She knew it was not possible for someone’s chakra to flow as usual when a person was killed.

Yet here she was proven wrong. Naruto Namikaze’s chakra swirled inside her as it always did, as if her body refused to allow her to die.

Mei had done what she could, however she could not reboot the girl’s heart. She did not have a lightening affinity, nor did those who had accompanied her, but even if they did, rebooting her heart with their unrefined control.

She had been further baffled when the girl’s summons had arrived, Lord Fukasaku of Mount Myoboku who had explained that Mei would have to keep healing the girl as her body tried to repair the internal and external damage dealt by Samehada and Nuibari.

Mei had gone straight back to action, healing the girl in small parts every three hours and injecting a liquid the toads had given her which she had not questioned. He was over 9 centuries old after all and would know more about healing than the medic Aburame.

.

.

.

A week. Rin Nohara had been missing for a _whole week_ and they had yet to find her. Raido knew they had a mission to complete however the needed the girl there as she was the only medic on the team. Raido knew the basic but he wouldn’t be able to heal wounds as well as she would be able to.

Which was why the team had taken to tracking the enemy via Kakashi’s hounds as the team carried on with the destruction of Kannabi Bridge.

They had been knocked out and injured during their last battle, Iwa shinobi not thinking much of them which was why they had been left alive which he was thankful for.

Minato was at the opposite side of them, fighting the enemy and waiting for them to blow the whole thing up in hopes of ending this perilous war. There was no guarantee Iwa would stop, however it would at least deter them for some time.

Kakashi had at first been apprehensive about leaving the girl behind but knew that duty came first, especially after the fiasco of The White Fang all those years ago. He would not choose the girl over the mission.

Obito was a different case. Raido had had to raise his voice to get his point across and threaten to poison him and when that hadn’t worked he knocked the boy unconscious as he and Kakashi carried the Uchiha to their destination.

Raido understood the boy’s feelings having seen first-hand the crush he held for the girl, nonetheless, Rin did not feel the same way about Obito- yet. Raido held no doubt in his mind that if Kakashi clearly stated to his teammate that he didn’t see her in that light then she would realise the feelings she held for the Uchiha. And according to Genma, the Hatake was infatuated with the Minato Namikaze’s sister.

However, he doubted that was the case. Kakashi, in his opinion, was cold and aloof at best and at worst, emotionally stunted. Not allowing himself to feel after what had happened with his father- not that Raido blamed him. He had seen how Kakashi loved Sakumo Hatake as a childand there was no doubt in anyone’s mind- who knew Kakashi and Sakumo when the former was younger- that his suicide had sent his son into the dark recess of the shinobi world.

 _‘Kakashi would make a great ANBU.’_ Thought Raido grudgingly as Kakashi prepared them some scentless food that the enemy wouldn’t be able to track them from.

Obito was a stark contrast to the Hatake. He preferred to be flashy and known, a quality which was dangerous if you didn’t have the skill to deal with being noticed at all times. They had been found more than once on this mission because someone had noticed the Uchiha’s orange eyesore of an outift which in his professional opinion as a jonin should be made illegal to wear.

It was nine days after Rin had been kidnapped that they managed to place all the tags and bombs where they were needed which was also when Kakashi’s pack returned with Rin’s location.

Obito hadn’t even listened to Pakkun as he demanded to know where the team medic was. Said ninken, of course, ignored the boy who wasn’t his pack leader and reported to Kakashi who looked to Raido. Raido in turn gave a barely there nod, once which Kakashi returned and led them to Rin’s destination.

They had barely been travelling for five minutes when he began to fall, how was unknown to him as he fell into unconsciousness.

.

.

.

Iruka frowned as he watched his teammate who was in turn watching their comatose teammate, a frown marring both males faces although Shisui’s frown was significantly deeper than his own.

The three of them had known each other since they were five or six and now they were eight or nine, whilst it didn’t seem like a lot of time, just a few years, and some friendships didn’t last quiet as long.

But they were more than friends, they were teammates and practically family. Which made this whole situation worse. Iruka loved Naruto as a sister, however Shisui had always been closer to her, the best of friends ever since their second term in the academy together.

It wasn’t to say Iruka didn’t get along with them because that would be a lie, he got along with them just fine but they were on a different level when it came to everything no matter how hard he tried.

He wasn’t jealous, he knew that. He just wished he was able to stand by their side and help them, not being useless or a deadweight to them that could endanger them rather than being useful.

Nonetheless, he didn’t like how Shisui was worrying himself to an early grave. Naruto was in a half dead half alive stasis which no one seemed to be able to take her out of which worrying certainly didn’t work. If it did, she would be back with them already.

Another thing he didn’t like was that Shisui was looking at her with his sharingan activated, and on occasion the pattern would change but he never got a good look at it to be able to describe what it looked like.

In general, the sharingan had always freaked him out a little and this new pattern didn’t make him feel _any_ better. He also didn’t like when Shisui first used it, he cried tears of _blood_.

There was no way that was healthy or good for him.

Shisui lurched forward a moment later, charging his chakra into Naruto again in hopes of restarting her heart and Iruka let out a sigh. Whilst he didn’t want to give up on his blonde teammate, he wished Shisui would take a break and _rest_.

Just as Iruka moved to get up, Shisui’s sharingan began to spin unnaturally, unlike all the other times he had used it, and then he froze in place, as if he someone was forcing him to do so.

A beat later Shisui began to move again and lurched backwards, breathing heavily as his sharingan went to its usual pattern, still spinning as it recorded what happened next.

.

.

.

“Kakashi.” Croaked out Obito as a crying Rin clutched his hand like a lifeline.

Kakashi couldn’t wrap his head around what was happening. Everything had gone so wrong so quickly that he had doubted he was even awake, praying it was all a nightmare.

First Rin had been kidnapped then they carried on the mission. Once doing their part they went on their way to save Rin only for Raido to get kidnapped. Kakashi and Obito went on, assuming the enemy was going to take the jonin to where their medic was being held hostage.

They had been right.

And things only got worse. Kakashi and Obtio were forced to fight on enemy territory whilst being outnumbered. Things had gone surprisingly well till the enemy used the transparency technique which he had only ever seen one person use, Hayate Gekko, a boy he had only met a handful of times however those handful of times he had seen and sparred with the boy had taught him how to fight this technique.

Using his nose he managed to fight as best he could and Obito had actually awakened his sharingan and from what he recalled of a previous conversation with Naruto, it was stage one of the eyes with a single tomoe in each eye.

The two of them had managed to perform some two-man techniques they hadn’t managed to do on the field before and everything was going so well.

They’d gotten cocky, and when in the heat of battle, should one get cocky they had a tendency to die.

Kakashi hadn’t smelt the man, hadn’t seen him and apparently neither had Obito as the man had cut across Kakashi’s left eye, the blood oozing from it making it impossible to see.

His untamed chidori had managed to take down the remaining enemies and Obito had ran to help Rin who could help Kakashi.

As always, Rin fussed as she tried to heal what she could of his eye but Kakashi knew his eye would be of no use anymore. Even if the eye itself remained in-tact there was no way he would be able to see from it again. If he wished to have a left eye he would have to undergo surgery for a new one to be implanted into it.

Once he was as healed as he could be, Raido was healed next and then Obito. Healing all three of them had left the girl tiered so the three of them had taken turn to carry her as they made their way to the rendezvous and along the way, things had taken a turn for the worst again.

One of the traps they had left behind on the mountain-way had been set off intentionally by the enemy causing an avalanche of rocks and boulders to fall on top of them.

They had managed to dodge most of them, however Obito was carrying Rin, unable to see the large rock coming their way so hastily he pushed them out of the way, quickly substituting himself with another boulder.

Kakashi hadn’t turned around in time to act as another rock fell towards them, Obito falling causing Rin to toll forwards in his attempt to keep her from being crushed.

Obito was on his stomach, his lower legs crushed by the boulder which had fallen on him which they couldn’t move. Kakashi had tried to use his chidori again however he had no chakra to do so. He barely had enough to use a simple lightening technique never mind one as chakra draining as his own technique.

He let out an anguished cry as he punched the boulder with his frustrations, but they did not leave as his tears fell, listening as the boy had confessed his feelings to their crying teammate.

“Kakashi. Promise me… promise you’ll keep her safe.” Kakashi looked down to where his teammate was and held back a cringe as he fell to his knees, head bowed as he promised the Uchiha to protect the love of his life with his own.

“Raido.” Obito coughed out, forcing the jonin to join them, “I know Kakashi won’t agree so I want you to order him something for me. Nothing illegal.” He tried to crack a smile however given the amount of pain the boy was in, it came out as more of a snarl. “I want you to make sure he implants my left eye into his.”

There were words of protests coming from both Rin and Kakashi but absolute silence from Raido who simply stared dumbfounded.

“I may have just unlocked it… but I’m dying and the dead have no use for kekkei-genkai.” Obito looked to Rin and they seemed to have a silent conversation as the girl nodded and managed to remove his eye without hurting him.

Well, he doubted it didn’t hurt, more so Obito was in too much pain to realise the new pain.

A loud bang and the sound of chatter could be heard and Obito coughed out more blood, a bloodied smile on his face, “Go. Before they get you all.”

Kakashi and Rin stayed in place, Obito’s eye sealed in a jar, as Raido tried to force them to come with him and after some force, they went.

.

.

.

Shisui had never been more frightened in his entire life. Granted, he wasn’t very old, nonetheless he was a shinobi who had taken part in this war. He had many things that scarred the mind and this went to the top.

Never in his life head he thought he would be face-to-face with the Kyuubi no Kitsune who was protectively holding his blonde teammate within his tails.

Kyuubi was _big_ , for a lack of better word. Far more than the statues at the Valley of End, which were very high indeed.

Kyuubi wasn’t even _alone_ , around him were all nine of the tailed beasts, each one with eyes closed as if concentrating hard on something. He didn’t recall Naruto ever saying anything about being the host to all nine which Shisui was certain was _impossible_.

Shisui’s sharingan caught sight of something behind Kyuubi. A waterfall which seemed to project images. A very much older looking Naruto was… crying over Lord Jiraiya, weeping into the man chest as someone tried to remove her from him.

Shisui furrowed his brows when Kyuubi wacked his tail through the waterfall, cutting the projection off before he could make sense of it.

Even after giving it a moment’s thought, it didn’t make sense. Naruto was eight, there was no way she could have been as old as the person in the waterfall nor could she have been weeping into a dead Lord Jiraiya’s chest as the man was still very much alive.

‘ ** _What do you want, Uchiha?_** ’ spoke the deep voiced Kyuubi, his words coming out raspy as if he had breathing difficulty.

Shisui gulped ans was certain if this was happening in the real world he would have pissed himself, ‘ _I’m… not sure_.’ He shook his head, ‘ _I want Naruto back._ ’

Kyuubi began to chuckle, ‘ ** _You say that as if I have taken her._** ’ he gave the Uchiha a small smirk.

‘ _If you’ve not taken her, what’s going on with her?_ ’

Kyuubi raised a brow, at least he thought he did. We was all hair after-all. ‘ ** _For all intents and purposes, Naruto should have died when she took your place and she would have had it not been for the Uzumaki blood in her veins and my healing her. Along with the help of my siblings of course. Whilst I heal her, they feed her their chakra._** ’ He explained in a bored tone, as if he were having a dry conversation.

Shisui’s heartbeat picked up when he registered what Kyuubi had said. Naruto had basically killed herself in favour of saving _him_.

He felt sick at the thought.

Hachibi opened its eyes, ‘ ** _And who is this, kyuubi_**?’

‘ ** _The Uchiha brat on Naruto’s team_**.’

Hachibi came closer down to inspect Shisui, who was sweating in gallons at this point, ‘ ** _It’s hard to imagine he is the one Mother speaks so fondly about_**.’ He said, his face trying and failing to look innocent.

Mother? Who was hachibi going on about? He thought to himself.

‘ ** _Naruto of course_**.’ The eight tails replied and Shisui’s eyes widened, assuming he had spoken aloud rather than thought his sentence.

Shisui shook his head and looked back at Kyuubi. It was hard to imagine Naruto having managed to stay sane with all nine tailed beasts inside her like this. Especially considering she was so kind, gentle and warm hearted.

‘ _How can I help Naruto_?’ he asked, not wanting to see his teammate in this state any longer, it was slowly driving him to insanity watching her lay there entirely motionless as her body didn’t breathe nor have any of her blood circulate. Her usually hot skin was as cold as the atmosphere in Shimogakure.

Kyuubi and Hachibi looked at each other before Hachibi closed its eyes again. The fox looked into Shisui’s eyes and growled. ‘ ** _You’ve been feeding her your chakra and haven’t taken over her body…_** ’ Shisui didn’t get what the hell Kyuubi was going on about till he recalled a conversation he had had with Naruto years ago, about the sharingan having power over the nine tails.

Kyuubi lashed out one of its tails, wrapping it around the Uchiha and bought him next to Naruto who was resting on the tailed beast’s tail, looking very warm.

‘ ** _Bring her out by feeding her your chakra and using your mangekyou sharingan_**.’

Shisui furrowed his brows, ‘ _Mangekyou sharingan_?’

‘ ** _The new patterned sharingan that caused you to tears of blood during your last fight._** ’

Shisui wondered how Kyuubi new that considering Naruto had been unconscious slash ‘dead’ at the time yet he didn’t question it, trying to bring forth the new sharingan he had gotten. He’d ask Naruto about it later.

Slowly, he raised his hand to hover over her heart then looked to Kyuubi, ‘ ** _Channel the chakra into the Gate of Opening and the Gate of Life._** ’ Shisui nodded and did as he was told, after-all, one would have to be suicidal to refuse what Kyuubi asked of them.

With his mangekyou activated he opened her eyes, not stopping the flow of chakra as he tried to order her to come out. Shisui didn’t know where it came from but he just knew he could do it ‘ _Kotoamatsukami_.’

A moment later Shisui was thrown out by a violent shrill of chakra, forcing his real body to fall backwards.

.

.

.

Kakashi, Rin, and Raido watched at the furious Yellow Flash, for a lack of better words, flashed around the battle field with his hiraishin, killing all in his path. The battalion Minato had been with stared in wonderment, curious to know what had caused the man to suddenly _flip_.

When they arrived they hadn’t spoken a word. All it took was one look at the eye Rin had managed to transplant into Kakashi’s socket- Obito’s sharingan- and the man had turned into Kushina Uzumaki with his fury.

In fact, Kakashi doubted he had even seen Kushina-nee like this which made him wonder how the woman would react to the news. The two didn’t get along very well but he could see the fondness in her eyes whenever she saw Obito.

Distantly, Kakashi heard the explosives go off on Kannabi Bridge which they had placed but couldn’t find it in him to care. The enemy had taken to retreating on said Bridge which had killed them once a certain amount of weight had been added to the bridge.

Kakashi felt a shiver up his arms which was when he noticed it was raining, the rain covering the salty tears falling down Rin’s face as she cried, healing the wounded at the same time.

The battle- no, the one sided massacre lasted till dawn, a total of four hours. Minato Namikaze massacred a thousand Iwa shinobi in four hours. Kakashi doubted the Tsuchikage could afford another incident like this again and would most likely withdraw from the war, leaving Kumo the only one left to fight Konoha. However, from recent rumours, Kumo was slowly bringing their troops back to the land and had been sending messages to the sandaime a lot lately however they were only rumours which had yet to be stated true or false.

Kakashi withheld a grimace as Minato sensei came in front of them. The man’s cerulean eyes were still ablaze like the blue flames of the Hitodama Clan as his clothes and arms were _dripping_ with blood, there was even splashes of it on his face which the man clearly didn’t pay any heed to.

“I’m sorry, sensei.” Kakashi finally spoke as he lowered his head. A head which received a pat from his sensei, of course that was after the man had wiped the blood off it.

There was a sad look on the man’s face, “There’s nothing to be sorry for. I’m sure… he died like a shinobi, with pride of having done good. Don’t tarnish his name and memory by wishing for other things, Obito wouldn’t want to see you moping around all depressing, now would he?” there was a small smile on the man’s face as they both thought about what Obito would possibly do if he had heard of Kakashi being more emo than usual.

.

.

.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so much for my break. Sigh. Just wanted to say guys, chapter 23 and this chapter, 24, as well as the next chapter 25 were originally supposed to be one super long chapter. I’m going to separately upload each of them as I have now and after that, I’ll change it into two chapters which would be like, 5000 words each.   
> Anyway, just to clear something to the rest of you, I wasn’t supposed to end the last chapter where I did but I needed a break and decided to post what I had. Also, I used the words ‘her heart stopped’ because I knew you guys would read into that and see Naruto wasn’t actually dead. Well, she is dead but isn’t at the same time. Don’t question it.   
> I’ll try to get the next chapter up within the next week or so.  
> On another note, I just came back from the Kitty Café and I loved it.   
> I hope you enjoyed this chapter and don’t forget to leave a comment down below, till next time! :)


	27. Chapter 25

_40 months- August_

.

Team Kushina and co returned home four and a half months after the mission had begun, tiered yet happy to be back home but first they would have to go and report their final report to the sandaime.

From the 17 people who had been dispatched for the Yugakure mission, 11 made it home alive, the other six had already been sent home via gama and had hopefully already had their funerals.

Mizuki, Daichi, Shizu, the Hyuuga, The Inuzuka and one of the Foundations members had all been killed, the Hyuuga having been killed in a completely different battle than the others.

This mission weighed more on their hearts than any other missions they had been given despite having gone on several front line missions.

Had Naruto been feeling herself she would have noticed the lack of a certain chakra signature in the village however she wasn’t feeling herself and did not noticed, but Kurama did, although he said nothing.

An hour later of discussing their final report, those outside of Team Kushina were dismissed and it was now their turn to debrief the hokage.

“There will be no need to go in detail, you have written a full report, all I need is small yet summative details you think are important.” Spoke the hokage, a small smile on his face as their faces brightened at his news. It meant they would get to go home earlier than expected.

“Kabutowari and Hiramekarei are now in our possession. ANBU have left Hiramekarei in scroll 3 and Naruto has Kabutowari sealed away.” Naruto reached into her pocket and handed over the sealed weapon.

“Do you wish to keep this Naruto? It is after all, the weapon is yours as it is your prize for killing the man.”

She shook her head, “I can’t use double handed weapons as I usually use ninjutsu with the unoccupied hand.”

The sandaime gave her a thoughtful look and handed her the other scroll, “Though this blade is not your spoils, you can have it if you so wish. The ANBU do not collect bounty without my approval and should I give it to them, there would be infighting as it would seem more than one person procured this blade.”

Naruto stared dumbfounded at the scroll. Hirameikarei was also a double handed weapon however a person had the option to use on hand with the blade. She knew she could use it, Chojirou had allowed her to use the blade on occasion so she knew it responded well to her. There was also the added benefit that she would be able to give it back to Kiri at a later date- for a price.

This carried on for the next half hour before the sandaime stated he had something he wished to inform _them_.

“Team Kushina, on behalf of Team Minato I am to inform you that during their last mission at Kannabi Bridge-” Naruto tensed, heart dropping as she knew where this was going but wished she was wrong. “- Obito Uchiha lost his life and gave his sharingan eye to Kakashi Hatake.”

The sandaime’s face betrayed nothing but Naruto could sense this weighed on him, you didn’t get many Uchiha that vocally expressed their wish to be hokage with such innocence that Obito did.

Naruto shut her eyes as she took in a shuddering breath, feeling for Obito’s chakra and finding it near the general location of Tenchi Bridge but his chakra was wrong. It was… jumping and swirling around inside him. She could feel Madara, since the man was next to the chakra of someone she knew.

Naruto thought against going over there, Obito knew she was a jinchuriki and no doubt Zetsu knew as well which of course meant that Madara would know. If Madara managed to get control over her it would be bad news for everyone.

She decided to leave Obito where he was for now, this way Obito would be healed form whatever injuries and assumed loss of limbs as well which was something Konoha could not do just yet.

‘ ** _I say leave him. Let the Uchiha’s rot together with that filth._** ’ Snarled Kurama as he looked down at his host who simply sighed and smiled at his antics. She knew the filth he referred to meant Zetsu. Naruto found it funny they would all call her Mother but they wouldn’t call Zetsu their Uncle despite that being what he technically was.

Naruto heard her teammates’ intake of breath but unlike the others, she didn’t feel sad over his so called loss. Whether that was because she knew he was fine or because of what he had become last time she wasn’t sure. Despite the number of years that had passed, she wasn’t over the Allied Shinobi War just yet.

Iruka and Kushina had been dismissed, leaving Naruto and Shisui in the office with the sandaime who had placed silencing seals around the office.

They didn’t like where this was going.

“Shisui, about the Mangek-”

Naruto interrupted him, “I already told him everything he needs to know about the mangekyou, from its genjutsu to the Susanoo. Even the part of possible blinding and the eternal mangkyo.”

During their mission, they usually took turns to bathe in a river or lake as another person stood on guard with their back turned, Naruto and Shisui had taken their shifts with themselves or Iruka. When Shisui had been on guard duty as she bathed she had spoken about it, telling him about his eyes.

At which point he mentioned seeing a sharingan eye activated in her own socket and Naruto had mentally cursed anyone who may have been up there. She had lied, saying it was the eye of a friend of hers who lived in Takigakure with her, a bastard of the Uchiha clan that no one had known about and he had dropped the subject when he had seen her saddened face.

Naruto sometimes scared herself with her capabilities to lie so easily to those around her but most of the time she impressed herself.

“Which brings me to the part of Shisui’s report where he wrote that he had seen you with a sharingan. Jiraiya never mentioned anything about you nowing an Uchiha. Or about your sharingan.”

Naruto shrugged her shoulders, feigning innocence, “Ero-tou-san doesn’t know about everything in regards to me during the short time he was away. Having this eye, which was given to me, felt lie something that people didn’t need to know. The Uchiha are sought out because of their kekkei-genkai, if people were to find out _I_ had one, I’d have the word after me.

“Nobody wishes to see an Uzumaki with the power of the _sharingan_ and fuinjutsu _mastery_ as well as my status as _jinchuriki_. I’ve had a target on my back for years and am making it bigger as I build a reputation for myself but I don’t need _this_ to make that target even bigger.” It wasn’t a whole lie. If you added all those things together, you were asking for trouble.

The sandaime leaned forwards, “Jiraiya once spoke to me about the prophecy of the Ogama Sennin had seen of my student where he would teach the Child of Prophecy. From what he has told me, he has six living students; yourself, Minato and the Ame three, one of which matches the necessary critera for the title.

“When he had been telling me about this, he mentioned something about the blood of the Uchiha and Senju mixing.” Naruto hoped she was over-thinking this, praying to Hagoromo himself that the sandaime wasn’t going to mention the little detail she had successfully buried in her memory years ago.

“When the blood of those two clan mix one could unlock the Rinnegan. The Uzumaki are relatives to the Senju which is shown in you is your ability to activate and deactivate your sharingan at will which we have established Kakashi cannot.” He looked at her, waiting to see what her reaction would be.

Whilst Naruto didn’t have as much experience as the sandaime, but she knew this field of her work, “I may have their kekkei-genkai but it’s not mine. I do not have the blood of the Uchiha inside of me.” she flared a small, unnoticeable amount of chakra into Shisui’s piercing rod, a silent message for him to not say anything.

The sandaime didn’t _need_ to know that he had transfused his blood into her, it would do no good. So what if she could activate the rinnegan? It wasn’t like she ever used the damn thing, just like she never used the sharingan.

Hiruzen squinted his eyes as he assessed them, they seemed to be keeping something from him but it wasn’t like he could pry it out of them. If it was important he could trust Shisui to tell him. He could trust Naruto, however she had too many secrets and many more that she kept a secret from him and because she was an Uzumaki, he wasn’t allowed to force her to answer him, a privilege granted when Lady Mito married the shodai- no Uzumaki or a jinchuriki were to have their actions questioned unless they were actions that put the people at risk.

The issue here was, he didn’t know if she would be putting the people at risk when this was all over.

The sandaime leaned back and sighed heavily as he reached for a document in one of his draws. “Given your status’ it is paramount that the two of you are aware of the hokage candidacy along with Kushina.” He gave the document to them and it clicked in their minds why Kushina sensei had been given a document upon leaving.

The two of the looked at their documents and Naruto felt the need to burn it with her black flames, fucking Danzo and of course Minato. She raised a brow and looked up, “Orochimaru isn’t a candidate?”

Sure, the man was aware of his future and wished to digress from that path however this was going a bit too far. As long as Orochimaru didn’t plan on experimenting on the whole of bloody Konoha or making them his slaves, she didn’t see why he would choose anything other than the seat of yondaime hokage.

He inhaled some of his tobacco before exhaling it, another thing Naruto wanted to burn, and replied, “He was petitioned by Homura and Koharu however he stated he did not wish to become hokage. Something about wandering around the nations.” This time both of her eyebrows rose, that was more on Jiraiya’s page than Orochimaru’s page to be honest.

“That is all I wished to discuss with you however, Naruto, I was asked by Jiraiya to give this to you. He said you could not open it till the 24th of the ninth month, as that would be exactly half the estimated time for his mission.” He reached once more into his desk and gave her a thick envelope which she took without question, however internally she wondered why.

.

.

.

Naruto had found him exactly where she had expected him to be. It was strange that the man’s habits hadn’t changed despite the fact that everything was different. She hadn’t even sensed for him, just expecting him to be here since she knew he was in the village.

She landed behind him and wrapped her arms around his torso, her head between his shoulder bones as he inhaled her scent, even though she wasn’t in front of him.

“It wasn’t your fault.” She said after standing there for an unknown amount of time, just allowing him to take from her presence what he needed for whatever he needed, she would always try to give.

He raised a hand and placed it on top of her own, clenching it tightly, “You don’t know that.” He replied gruffly, his voice betraying him as it gave away how clogged it was from his guilt.

“No, so why don’t you tell me what the last thing he said to you was.”

There was a long pause before he replied quietly, “He said ‘promise me you’ll keep her safe.’” It didn’t take a genius to guess who Obito was referring to.

“If he blamed you for what happened, do you honestly think he would entrust you with the safety of the girl he loved?” when she received no reply she carried on, “If Obito was with us, what do you think he’d say about you know?”

His reply was immediate, “That I was being a bastard with a stick up his ass.”

Naruto smiled, honestly she felt like the old her could have played the part of Obito without a problem since she always felt that way about Sasuke except Sasuke had the excuse that it was _hereditary_ in 99.9% of his clan.

They didn’t say anything after that however Naruto did let go of Kakashi in favour of allowing him to hug her instead of the other way around.

.

.

.

_41 months- September_

.

Naruto felt sick to her stomach and actually considered vomiting.

Needless to say, due to Naruto’s fox genes and the fact she was attracted to male and females, she defined as Pansexual so should someone else say they were gay, lesbian, bi, pan, ace or anything else, she didn’t have a problem with it.

She didn’t exactly have an issue with these people being bi… more so that they were fucking bi for each other.

Naruto knew she fucked the past up considering the mission to Kannabi Bridge was a _year_ earlier than what it should have been, however she had never thought _this_ would happen.

The letter Jiraiya had given to the sandaime to give to her clearly stated he was sleeping with Orochimaru.

 _Jiraiya_.

And _Orochimaru_.

In _bed_ with each other.

Jiraiya who loved women’s breasts, behinds and thighs more than he liked being alive and Orochimaru who she didn’t know the sexuality of.

‘ _Someone get me the Yamanaka clan because I need mental bleach for this_.’ She groaned mentally, trying to remove the image from her mind till reality forced her to see sense.

.

.

.

_44 months- December- 9 years old_

.

Naruto stood in front of the sandaime, waiting for his reaction. He had announced that he was going to retire and name his successor in a few days. Jiraiya and Orochimaru stated it would be best for her to come clean about her so she did, of course that was after much protesting and arguing which she couldn’t actually win against a guy who used his brain more than she did.

Which left her in her current position, looking up at the sandaime as she awaited his reaction.

His reaction was not something she had expected. The old man had gotten out of his seat and came over to her, bowing low before her, “I beg your forgiveness for the life you have lives under my misguided rule. You should not have had to suffer the way you did by the hands of my people and I only have my ignorance to blame. Can you find it in your heart to forgive me, my child?”

Honestly she had been expecting concealed anger or something similar- _not this_.

“Uh… I kinda forgave you a while back so… there’s no need to _bow_ jiji.” She replied awkwardly.

The man slowly raised his head and looked deep in though before going behind his desk, reaching into a draw that Naruto recognised and she honestly believed she was under a genjutsu because there was no way the sandaime hokage was allowing her- _a recently turned nine year old_ \- to enter the ANBU black ops.

The mask in front of her proved her statement otherwise as did the lack of dispersion when she tried to dispel the genjutsu.

She took the mask into her right hand as she crouched into a bow, her left arm in full display once she removed her haori, leaving her in an under-mesh-shirt. As he made her swear to the ANBU’s code and oath, he placed the ANBU seal on her upper left arm, and she was surprised to see it black as well as the red flames encased around it.

Her eyes widened in understanding of what the tattoo was. The flames around the ANBU tattoo allowed her to come and go from the village as she pleased with or without the hokage’s permission as long as she reported back what she was doing. Whereas the black ANBU tattoo allowed her to take high ranking mission alone and no one was allowed to judge her actions either.

She had only ever seen the flame mark on one other person and that had been Jiraiya, only because the man couldn’t stand to stay in the village for long periods of time after Minato had died.

She looked up at the sandaime when he was finished and asked him if he truly believed she was worthy, as in her time no one had been granted either of those marks.

“You served Konoha despite their treatment of you. You protected a comrade and bought him home just as you swore. You united the five nations. And even if you believe you failed one fifth of humanity- as I see it, you saved four fifths of humanity. There is no one I know that is worthy of these marks as you are, Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze.”

Her eyes welled with tears which she wiped off with her hand, not wanting to cry when she was holding a bloody ANBU mask however she knew they were tears of joy as did the sandaime as he said nothing to stop her tears other than to hold her to him.

.

.

.

Naruto stood next to Shisui and Iruka amongst the crowd that had formed at the base of the hokage tower- the yondaime was being named ad it bought a smile to her face as she saw her father turned brother donning the white and red flames robe he wore with the writing of Yondaime Hokage on the back along with the white hat with the kangi for Hi on it.

“I am the yondaime!”

_“I am the godaime!”_

_“I am your Rokudaime!”_

‘ _They’re all the same._ ’ She thought with mirth filled eyes. ‘ _Despite the generations, each speech ends the same, with the announcement of who we are._ ’

‘ ** _Look again, Naruto. Whilst your predecessors claimed to be the kage you claimed to be_ their _kage. There is a difference with your speech, so it did not end the same, not will you end the same as they did._** ’

Naruto smiled at the proclamation, knowing she would not allow their endings to be the same as they had been before. She’d be damned to the pits of hell with Madara before she let them die how they did the last time.

Unbeknownst to her, a fire lit in her eyes. A fire which had been previously dimming with the current war which was now over thanks to the massacre at Kannabi Bridge as well as the destruction Minato had left behind at Tenchi Bridge, although Naruto was confused as to why the man had gone crazy there as well.

.

.

.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow, two updates in one day, I have amazed myself.   
> It should be noted that I made up the whole thing about blac ANBU tattoo as well as the flame tattoo. I also hope I haven’t mentally scarred anyone with the Orochimaru and Jiraiya thing.   
> I just completed this a short while ago so I hope you like it and please don’t forget to leave a comment down below! Till next time!


	28. Chapter 26

**EDIT- I’ve merged the chapters already and I’ve put both author’s notes here with a number.**

_Two weeks later_

.

Naruto found that it was harder than she had originally assumed to hide her new status and promotion from those around her. There was no use in hiding said promotion from Jiraiya or Orochimaru but the others were a different case.

The sandaime had clearly stated he wished to keep her promotion as hush as possible as Koharu and Homura would disagree with it and Danzo would insist of having her in ROOT. The former two would insist on keeping her within the village as often as possible but her flame mark did the exact _opposite_ of their wish.

She wanted to tell her team though, considering she would be going on lots of missions without them and she didn’t find it fair to them for her to just up and leave them without any warning.

ANBU had a minimum number of missions they had to complete a year as long as they didn’t take long missions so she would try to fill that small roster and do as many missions as she could with her team as well.

At present time, she was sat in Minato’s apartment eating dinner with Team Minato minus Obito and Team Kushina. She had to grudgingly wear a full sleeved top, something she usually went without considering she was as hot as a furnace most of the time.

They had paused their small talk when Minato called for each of their attention and Naruto was immediately suspicious by the large smile on his face, it was goofier than usual.

“I invited all of you over so abruptly for dinner because… well, I proposed to Kushina yesterday and she said yes.” If at all possible his smile became goofier and it seemed to be contagious as they all couldn’t help but smile as well, even Kakashi but she could see the underlying sadness in his eyes and she knew it was because Obito would have wanted to be there.

The mission to Kannabi bridge had been roughly when they had gone to their mission at the border, which was several months ago. By now, Obito should have been healed physically so all he would require was physical therapy and psychiatric attention, both he could easily receive.

She had thought it out, sort of. With Kiri out of commission due to her last mission there was simply no way in hell they were going to kidnap anyone from Konoha to seal Isobu into.

Because of that, Madara wouldn’t be able to brainwash Obito, a point in her favour but she knew the longer he stayed, the bigger the chance would be for him to not be the Obito they all knew. Madara and Zetsu had been spouting some convincing nonsense but for Naruto and the Allied Shinobi Forces, they had been words of madmen who planned on destroying the world.

She gave Minato a smile and congratulated the couple on their engagement, asking when they planned on having the wedding, “Sometime in July when the flowers will be in full bloom.” Replied a smiling Kushina, her hand holding Minato’s tightly with their fingers interlocked.

.

.

.

As hokage for several years, Hiruzen Sarutobi had to face the harsh reality of their world and the fallout from his actions and he had always taken it in stride. He was not supposed to second-guess his actions as the Professor but when the younger girl had shown him her memories via the Yamanaka clan technique, a technique she had been taught by Ino Yamanaka, he had doubted himself.

In his heart, he believed all the wrongs had been his fault and his alone. Allowing Danzo to keep the Foundation running, not granting Kushina’s final wish, allowing people to smear Naruto’s name, allowing the village to distrust the Uchiha, keeping Naruto from her godparents, allowing Itachi to shoulder the blame of the Uchiha clan, not stopped the coup, allowing Orochimaru to carry on in his path into the darkness, keeping Kakashi in ANBU and so much more.

All of it was his fault.

As such, he knew he had to fix his mistakes but doing so was impossible. There was nothing he could do personally other than help Naruto in her crusade to fix the mistakes he and his predecessors had created. He would also make damn sure that his council wouldn’t interfere with her nor Minato’s decisions. He trusted both of the Namikaze’s decisions enough and knew they wouldn’t harm Konoha, only doing what they believed and knew would be for her benefit.

It was that though that brought him peace of mind as he went into his old office and insisted that Minato create his own council of people he trusted.

.

.

.

After another week Naruto had finally gotten Kurama to agree in helping her retrieve Obito from Madara.

During the week she had invested in an apartment away from Jiraiya and Orochimaru, not because she didn’t want to see them but they weren’t at an age or rank where they acted like lovesick teenagers. No, she didn’t want to hear them at night time so she had taken to renting an apartment in the shinobi district which was coincidentally right above Kakashi’s own apartment.

She hadn’t like the size of it, originally, however after talking it through with the landlord he agreed that as long as she got permission and paid for it she could knock down two of the apartments next to her and expand it, she just had to keep in mind her rent would be higher than everyone else but that didn’t really bother her.

Back to present time though, she was stood in the hokage’s office with Team Minato, Team Kushina and Obito’s grandmother, saying she had a pre-wedding gift for them as long as they didn’t hate her when she gave it.

When she had been told they’d love whatever she gave them, she used the hiraishin and teleported over to Obito, only to see white Zetsu and set him on fire after eliciting a scream.

“Is that you Naruto?” spoke a familiar voice behind her and she turned to see Obito.

Since the mission hadn’t gone the same way as it had in her time, his upper body was fine minus one missing eye. His lower body seemed to have been the issue since he had two white legs the same colour as Zetsu from the shodai’s cells no doubt.

His face was the same as the last time she had seen it, no swirls and only an eye missing. She was actually pleased by this turn of event, she didn’t know how she would react to him if he had looked like crazy Obito.

She gave the boy a strained smile and nodded, but when she was about to speak, she heard a voice that haunted her nightmares and whose voice got Kurama in such a foul mood, his own side of her mindscape became dark and gloomy.

“And who do we have here?” asked Madara.

Naruto’s eyed turned yellow as Kurama’s chakra cloaked her and a moment later she was holding a rasenshuriken which she threw at him.

A jutsu he moved out of the way of with the help of Zetsu.

Not the white one.

“What brings Ashura’s reincarnation here?” he asked and Naruto felt her blood boil but she decided against paying him any attention and instead paid attention to behind Madara, the Gedo Statue.

The last time they had destroyed the Gedo statue, the ten tails broke free however this time, it didn’t have any of the bijuu inside of it.  

She smirked as she placed a small amount of her chakra in the cave and latched it onto the statue. Her own chakra, not Kurama’s.

Just before Madara or Zetsu could attack her, she grabbed Obito and teleported back to Konoha where everyone was waiting for her return.

.

.

.

Minato sat in his office, amused, as he waited for his little sister. He didn’t understand why she wanted to make a show, to such a point where she had invited even his late student’s grandmother to witness it.

He tried to squish the annoyance he was feeling when he had found out about her promotion the previous day. He had been going through the ANBU roster and had been surprised and angered when he had seen her name and the fact she had chosen _that_ division out of all the other options available to her.

Iruka was talking to Rin as Kakashi and Shisui spoke about a new seal they planned on using in their next spar with Naruto whereas Kushina was striking small talk with Obito’s grandmother.

Just as Rin began talking about chakra infused fists, Naruto teleported back into the office which was when he knew he was dreaming because there was no way Obito was standing- crouching?- in front of him.

Gasps were heard all around the two in the middle of the office and it was Obito’s grandmother who got there first surprisingly, crushing her grandson to her as she sobbed into his hair, murmuring words of relief about his return.

Minato could see Rin with tears streaming down her face and a smile adorning her, lighting her features, similar to Kushina herself. Iruka had a shocked expression and Minato couldn’t read the expression marring his silver haired students face.

He did, however, notice Shisui not paying his cousin too much attention and instead chose to go over to his little sister and take a hold of her arm and looked at her with furrowed brows, asking her a question too low for him to hear and he was also positioned in a way where he couldn’t see what he was saying either.

He didn’t pay it much thought, they were children who were close friends, it was only natural for him to be contemplative about whatever he was asking her.

Instead Minato chose to rise from his chair, a trigger for everyone else as each of them went forward to group hug the boy they had assumed was dead.

He didn’t notice Naruto and Shisui not joining them in this hug, nor did he notice Iruka going over to them. He also did not notice both of them catching her as she fell unconscious to the ground, but he did notice her scream which jolted everyone apart.

Shisui raised her right sleeve to reveal one of her seals activating, a seal Minato didn’t recognise nor would he be able to break it down to understand what it was in enough time to help her however Shisui seemed to know what to do as he activated his sharingan and pumped some of his chakra into the seal, calming it down and allowing her to breathe easily again.

Shisui and Iruka looked up impishly and Shisui answered his unasked question, “Ignore us, we’re used to this. Carry on the reunion, we’ll take her home.” Both boys worked together to raise the girl and placed her on Iruka’s back since Shisui looked slightly tiered after the chakra infusion. Hastily, he went over to Obito and gave him a quick hug, exclaiming his happiness about his being alive with a slightly strained smile and left with Iruka, both setting off via window with a wave.

.

.

.

Shisui looked down at his sleeping teammate and let out a sigh, trying to ignore Kurama as he made his way around the apartment. The fox seemed to like coming out of the seal whenever he was alone with Naruto, although he could never tell why.

Gazing at Naruto he thought about what he had been thinking about for several months, the mere though that the girl in front of him was actually, technically, 25 now was absurd considering she looked 9 and claimed to be 9 as well.

Truth be told, he hadn’t believed her at first but he had been forced to believe her when she had revealed his sharingan in her socket he had believed her. She had lied about the sharingan at first, and he had believed her however at some point in the mission when she had been sleeping and having a nightmare, she began muttering things and jolted, asking him a bunch of questions that made no sense.

She had revealed everything then, the truth about her and her past but he didn’t feel betrayed, instead he felt a weight off his shoulders and had been relieved. Relieved that she trusted him enough to tell him this.

Upon their return to Konoha Lord Orochimaru had said not to get his hopes to high as her revelation had most likely come from her new founded addiction to his chakra.

He had never heard of such a thing before but when Kushina sensei explained it was something people usually got when they drank the blood and chakra of an Uzumaki, it had made some sense. Naruto would often heal them with small doses of her chakra and when they were worse off, she would sue her blood.

Apparently, Naruto’s blood had mixed with his own and also mixed into his chakra system. So when he had been infusing Naruto with his chakra, she had gained an addiction. Whenever she didn’t, for a lack of better term, _feed off_ him, her chakra and seals would act up and she would be in pain but that was only when she went too long without it.

According to Kushina sensei, when someone became addicted they needed several transfusions a day however Naruto’s stubbornness meant she could go days and even weeks without it which was a relief. But that also meant her addiction would never go away which had been less of a relief.

He was bought out of his musings when he heard a knock at the window so he left his teammate to go and take the message. The hawk allowed him to take the mini scroll which meant it was for him and he clenched it in his fist when he noticed it was from his father.

He had been avoiding the man recently, not enjoying his toxic attitude and behaviour which reminded him so much of his mother. People always assume Shisui didn’t remember his mother considering she had worked herself into an early grave ad was hardly ever around but that wasn’t the case.

He remembered her perfectly. She looked like all the other Uchiha, black hair, midnight hair and a sour attitude. She worked brilliantly for the Uchiha Military Police Force and for the sandaime hokage on whatever missions they gave her however she was toxic when she was at home.

She hated almost everything. Always shouting at her father, always yelling about Shisui’s uncharacteristic behaviour which was ‘unbefitting’ of the Uchiha. She also made sure to always let him know that she had never wanted him- that her duty had been put on hold because she was pregnant with him.

She liked to avoid him when she could and would always drink far more than she should have, going on and on about the mistreatment towards the Uchiha clan and now, as Shisui saw his father, he was sick of it.

Perhaps it was because he knew what would become of this behaviour or because he was actually sick of it on his own. Whatever the reason, he wanted no part of it.

He loved his father, they had always been close since his mother had no time for him. Kagami was a father one could be proud of and he was equally proud of his son however ever since he had been made aware of his mangekyou, his Uncle Fugaku had been pushing his father into a corner which seemed to have bought out a part of his father he had never seen and wished would go away.

He had contemplated whether or not it would be worth using his mangekyo on him but Naruto had bought him out of that thought- temporarily. She had said to hold off and she would try to help him as much as she could without him having to use his eyes. And if that didn’t work then he would be allowed to use his eyes.

She also said she would heal him.

He went into the living-room where Kurama was reading a scroll of transformations. Huh.

“I have to go. My father’s calling me home so let her know when she wakes up that we have a team brunch tomorrow at 10 with Team Minato at Kushina Obito’s house.” With that he left to his house via shunshin, thinking about the nickname he had been given in Naruto’s time- Shisui no Shunshin aka Shisui the Teleporter. He liked it.

.

.

.

_46 months- February_

.

Naruto swore she was going to torture Minato with _weeks_ of paperwork for this. He had sent ten shinobi into different planes to test them, including the Forest of Death.

Their testers had been ANBU, who they had to fight over a four day period and for a whole _week_ they had been at their mercy to do as they pleased within Minato’s boundaries which apparently went pretty far.

The task had been far more gruelling than her ANBU inauguration or even her inauguration into the Hunter Corps back in her time, both operating on the saying ‘ _You may have been chosen by one, but it is the majority that rule’_.

Not that she had a problem with their inauguration, the test Minato put them through had consisted of torture and interrogation by allies within their homeland, a place where they should feel safe. Fighting the ANBU, making sure they weren’t found and making sure their teammates weren’t killed.

Which was very hard when against _ANBU commander_. Screw with the fact that they themselves were in ANBU, _mostly_. The only ones she knew to not be in the Corp were the four she didn’t recall the names of and Shisui, everyone else was in ANBU if she recalled properly.

She saw the benefit of such things, she had been hokage once, so she knew it was a way to get rid of those who would hinder him and his plans. But that didn’t mean she had to like it.

“You know, I’m sure someone will have something to say about how hazardously you’re laying down, Naruto.” Spoke Raido and in return she flipped him off.

“I don’t care right now. I’m comfy and I can sense everything around me. I’m alert is all anyone should care about.” She replied, groaning as she felt the ANBU come near.

She didn’t bother to move her whole body, instead she made a few hand signs and erected a barrier around them using fuinjustu, causing her to be on the receiving end of multiple glares since she could do such a things so effortlessly.

“I envy your ability to that so easily.” Groaned Iwashi as he glared half-heatedly at the girl who merely sent him a cheeky yet tiered grin.

“You won’t envy it when you’re forced to erect barriers all the time to the point you get all filthy and smelly.” She scrunched her nose in distaste as she could smell herself, “I need to take a soak in the river.” She added as an afterthought.

“I’ll join you.” Replied both Raido and Genma causing Shisui and Kakashi to glare at them for her.

A cough and bang against her barrier drew their attention to the hokage and ANBU commander, both looking (feeling) pleased and irritated by her very effective barrier which seemed to have slightly burnt the commander’s hand.

Oops.

.

.

.

Minato looked down, pleased by the results considering he already knew who would and who wouldn’t pass his gruelling test. Out of the ten people propositioned to be part of his platoon, only six had made it and he was mostly pleased with the fact that it was the six he had chosen and not the four that the elders had chosen.

Perhaps it was petty, but he didn’t like them on sheer principle. They were old and thought they knew everything as well as their hatred of Kushina and his sister all factored into his dislike of them. Which of course meant he got to gloat and _rub it in their faces_ whenever _he_ was proven right and _they_ were proven _wrong_.

“Congratulations, you six have done two things over the past few days. One, you have passed my little test and two, you have proven that I was correct in my decision.” The smile on his face and statement made it clear to Naruto, Kakashi and Shisui why he was so happy. They too enjoyed messing with the elders.

But there was something all six noticed, his use of the words ‘ _little test’_ as if he had given them a written exam and not seven days of hell.

“Raido Namiashi, Genma Shiranui, Kakashi Hatake, Iwashi Tatami, Naruto Namikaze and Shisui Uchiha, from today, you six will be part of my direct security- something I like to call ‘The Hokage Guard Platoon’.” He looked around and saw Naruto’s eyes sparkle as if she already knew where he was getting with his and he honestly wouldn’t be surprised if she _did_.

“I had chosen you six because of very simple reasons. One, you are all young which means you can be easily taught new techniques which you can adapt into your current techniques. For all intents and purposes, I will be teaching you things which are not for public disclosure in the sense they cannot use what I teach you.” He looked to each of them to make sure they understood and carried on only when he was sure they understood.

“The second reason you were all chosen was because you each have shown an interest in fuinjutsu, some more so than others. The final reason is because I trust each of you, minus Shisui, each of you is a member of the ANBU black ops with the rank of Tokubetsu jonin or above.” Naruto and Shisui had been given the rank of Tokubetsu sometime ago after applying for the test.

Iruka had been given the opportunity to join them however he stated he wished to wait till he had a specialization before taking the test because, unlike them, he didn’t have a kekkei-genkai.

Naruto had no doubt that Iruka would become a great fuinjutsu user as that seemed to be the specialization he had chosen a few weeks later and it miffed her a lot to see how create he was. He used his prankster side to create seals which made grown men cry and Naruto was _proud_ of what she had created. She herself could make them _weep_.

“You’ll all be encouraged to master this seal, a variant of the hiraishin called the formation seal.” he raised a scroll with an enlarged version of said seal, a seal which had been her reason to enter the world of fuinjutsu.

Ero-sennin had taught her the very basics of the art and when he died she hadn’t entered into again. However during the war, she had taken an interest in her father’s hiraishin and asked the Hokage Guard Platoon and Kakashi sensei to teach her more of the art.

They had readily done so, believing her to be one who was able to bring back the art of her clan to Konoha and they had been right. Under their long tutelage she had revived the bloody art and taught it to Konohamaru, Moegi, Udon and several others of both her generation and the next. She had even left scrolls to them and the key to her scrolls vault so they had access to her work should anything have happened to her.

She swallowed the lump in her throat as she recalled the sleepless nights where they would take turns to teach her and her clones what was right and what was wrong and their hard work turned into her being able to use the hiraishin, something she couldn’t do when she had been sent to the past.

“I also intend to make you all Seals masters to a certain level at least with the help of Kushina and Naruto.” All eyes went on her as hers widened in shock.

She pointed a finger at herself and said, “Me?!”

Minato gave her a small smile, “Of course. You can already use the hiraishin in a way that even I cannot. Your capability in fuinjutsu is incredible to a point where Kushina thinks you’re not even my sister and just pure Uzumaki. It’s a skill I intend to teach to others. Uzu may have fallen and their art forgotten but Konoha will not smear its memory and shall revive it.”

Naruto’s eyes filled with tears as she recalled her mother’s memory of Uzushiogakure and her own memory of what the place had become after Kiri an Iwa had invaded it.

**_ PART 2-  _ **

To know that others beside herself would be learning and teaching the art was a weight off her shoulders she hadn’t known she had been carrying.

“This seal, however, is not meant for one person alone. It needs a minimum of three people, and the central point of this will be the hokage. With three people activating it, it will take you to the hokage or it can bring the hokage to you. I have my hiraishin to get me out of a tough spot if necessary but for the future generations of hokage- this will be helpful.”

Naruto’s eyes clouded as he spoke, knowing that with Kurama’s heavy chakra and her large reserves, she wouldn’t be able to help them with the formation and as such raised her hand, “I won’t be able to use the Formation seal since it requires fine chakra control, something I don’t have despite all my training.”

It had been a problem in both lives, her reserves had simply been too large for her to be able to have that level of control- her terrible bunshin’s attested to that. Even though Orochimaru had tried his best with her chakra control, it only went so far. Granted she was a lot better thanks to his teachings but if she tried to use the formation seal she would overcharge it and end up blowing up the seal.

“I chose you to teach them Naruto, and then you could even create your own variation of this seal so it could make up for where you lack. Although, we will go back to fine tuning your chakra control as best as we can.” Replied Minato, outwardly unbothered by her proclamation.

Minato didn’t understand why she thought the way she did when it came to such things, even when it came to her genjutsu skills she had point-blank stated she couldn’t do it and he had seen her failed attempts. But that was it, she tried a few times and gave up with those two subjects a lot more than when it came to others. Usually, she persevered and carried on till it went her way.

He intended to rectify this flawed thinking of her control as soon as he could.

Genma was the next to ask a question, “Why would you give us this seal though, Minato-sama? Whilst I know a little about the hiraishin thanks to Naruto a few years ago, the hiraishin is fundamentally yours- I had heard it had been patented in the Forbidden Scroll.”

Genma had a point there, “Not quite. The hiraishin was originally the second Hokage’s work and I completed it. Of course Naruto mastered it to a degree I could never hope to accomplish, but no. I never had it patented because unlike my rasengan or Kakashi’s chidori, these are techniques which can be taught and utilised to save lives without the risk of one’s own life.”

Naruto muttered a  _‘yeah right’_  under her breath causing all heads to turn to her and her face flushed at being heard.

“What do you mean by that, Naruto?” asked Iwashi, looking quizzically at her.

She replied whilst twisting a lock of her hair behind her head, “Well… fuinjutsu… whilst it doesn’t seem like it’s dangerous, it can be deadly if not used carefully. If you overcharge the seals, you’ll end up either making it blow up in your face or something else dangerous.

“Take the hiraishin seal. If someone put too much chakra into it, they may end up at a different seal or at a different time placement than originally intended.” She cringed as she recalled the first time she had been studying the hiraishin.

She had been learning from what Kakashi and the Platoon recalled from memory of the seal so when she drew it up and used it, she had ended up late and not at the same time.

She had given everyone a heart attack but she had mastered it with the kunai in the end, becoming the second coming of the Yellow flash also known as the golden flash given she usually only used the hiraishin when she was in her golden cloak.

Minato noticed the look on their faces at her comment and gave them all reassuring smiles, "It's very unlikely that you'd actually put in too  _much_  chakra. Outside the Uzumaki, Senju and Uchiha clans, people don't have the reserves to overload a seal. If anything, you'd be more likely to under-power the seal and make it useless."

There was a mischievous smile on his face and Naruto couldn't help but snigger when she heard Genma say,  _'Now they're fucking with our heads.'_  honestly, it hadn't been planned but Naruto had always been one to adapt to the flow. 

There had been small talk after that, everyone asking questions and Minato giving out the answers and then demanded they all take a well-deserved break.

Naruto and Shisui had given a small thanks up above. After all they had been going on many B and C rank missions as of late. And Naruto herself had been going on A ranks that thankfully didn’t take very long and the occasional S rank which left her drained for days after returning home.

.

.

.

_51 months- July_

.

The weather was nice, the sun was bright and the clouds gave the Land of Fire some respite from the heat as the wind blew in a cool breeze. 

Everything looked amazing. From the decorations in the hall to the set-up she and the others had done in the Forest Pavilion. A beautiful set of red and blue flowers adorned the tables as well as the alter. 

A smile found its way onto Naruto's face as she listened to her brothers and sensei's vows, tears prickling her eyes when they placed the wedding seals on each other. She had never heard of such seals till Kushina mentioned them and had been shocked, there had been no such thing when she had first lived. 

"And together we are one." They said together once their seals had been drawn and her blood grew cold.

Suddenly her vision changed, the beautiful hall suddenly changed to a tent and the happy couple before her also changed. From red hair to spiky blonde and from electric blonde her suddenly changed into black in an oh so familiar style.

_“And with this union we are one!” they had yelled their union with pride, a shock to everyone since Shikamaru had actually raised his voice for something but the smile on Temari’s face was his reason when asked._

Their smiles were brighter and Naruto placed a hand over her mouth to stop herself from being sick. Others must have assumed she was overcome with joy and she had been, till she heard those words. The words had been so similar to those that Temari and Shikamaru had spoken at their wedding. 

She tried to forget, to _push_ the memory away but instead more memories rose to the surface. Temari, blood soaking her back where she had been slashed as she held her child, Shikadai, to her chest.

As she forced the memory away _another_ came, the memory of Shikamaru returning from the battle to see his dead wife the anguish had shown on his face however the anguish he felt within his chakra had been _worse_ and Naruto had to bring out her Hunter persona to stop herself from crying.

She looked up from the bridesmaids side of the hall and looked directly opposite her where a pair of sharingan eyes were looking into her own and she felt herself calming down at the sight as they reigned her back to the present. 

This wasn’t the Allied Shinobi War.

This was years before that and the third war had ended. Shikamaru hadn't been born yet which meant his wife was currently in Suna clutching the garbs of her mother as the woman was most likely tending to Kankuro.

Her thoughts bought a smile to her face and she removed her hand from her mouth, wiping away her tears and nodded at him, he deactivated his sharingan however his eyes never left her.

She was thankful that she had spoken the ladies out of making her wear makeup since it would be useless. Naruto wasn’t vain but she knew her original skin was pretty without all those layers. She had conceded to a small amount of makeup on her eyes and a lipstick but other than that... no layers.

She was also quite pleased with her dress. Kushina had ordered her a kimono she hadn't been allowed to see, only allowed to be measured for and she was pleasantly surprised. 

It was a long dress which went to the ground, the chest was black and the rest was blue. Somehow she had managed to get a blue that matched her eyes perfectly, the same shade as Minatos own eyes. It had embroidery at the bottom going up, dark blue and black flames. The only downside to the dress had been the fact it was sleeveless and she hadn't been allowed to wear anything to cover her hands not her arms which meant everyone could see her seals on her arm, the sun mark on her palm and the ANBU flame tattoo on her upper arm as well.

She winces at the memory when Kushina had seen her all dressed up. She hadn't had a chance to tell her sensei exactly what division she had joined which consumed most of her time and Naruto knew as soon as the woman could, she would go on a rampage about her 9 year old student being sent to dark recess of a shinobi’s work. 

A few minutes later, the new wedded couple made their way out of the room, Kushina’s white kimono with red and blue embroidery trailing behind her before Minato lifted her princess style causing the red head to squeal and for everyone else to either aww or chuckle.

As soon as the couple left to go to the pavilion, everyone else left, however upon return everyone had to go in their escorts. Naruto had gone with both Iruka and Shisui however the former had to leave to the Pavilion with Anko. Obito, Rin and Kakashi had entered together, Obito in a wheelchair as he was still receiving physio-therapy and when it was time to go to the pavilion he had to go back to the medical ward due to his fragile mind.

Apparently, Madara and Zetsu had managed to brainwash him a _little_ during his ‘ _stay’_ in their little cave with the Gedo statue. A statue she couldn’t _move_. She tried several times without actually going into the cave and she had turned up with no results. Either Zetsu was blocking her or she needed more training.

Personally, she thought it was both.

Without her knowledge she and Shisui were already at the pavilion, eating before they would all have to dance whatever the couple wanted them to dance. Naruto had sadly not been in the village often enough to be part of the wedding preparations but from what Shisui and Iruka had told her, she had been lucky but that meant she didn’t know a lot of what Kushina and Minato had planned for them all.

The speech part of the evening consisted of continuous teasing upon Minato and how long it had taken him to propose to the red head and his awkward youth. Even the daimyo who had been invited and made his barbs at the kage, much to the yondaime’s embarrassment. It had been funny to watch the legend himself be publicly embarrassed by those around him.

Soon after was the dancing portion of the evening and Naruto didn’t understand what the need was, it wasn’t even tradition but she was being forced to danced.

Sure, she knew how to dance because of her training for ANBU and the Hunters had said it was mandatory given the wide range of possible missions she could be given.

That didn’t mean she had to like the fact that she was made into some sort of spectacle when dancing with her Uchiha teammate. She didn’t seem to foster that much muttering and gossiping when it she had been dancing with her other teammate. In fact, she had to dance with several other people and the only other person she had gotten that many people riled up with had been Kakashi- for obvious reasons. The boy had after-all rejected a dance with Rin.

Perhaps it had been the fact she had danced a lot dances with him? It hadn’t even been by choice, apparently it had been part of the planning she had not been a part of. When she got her hands on the couple she’d throttle them for putting her on the spot like this.

After 2 consecutive hours of dancing in heels, she was finally given mercy. Shisui had taken her to a corner where there was plenty of alcohol which she planned on devouring and made sure to do just that, earning an amused yet concerned look from Shisui.

“Should you really drink so much?” he asked.

She shrugged her shoulders and took another swing of her bottle, “It doesn’t do anything to me if you recall. Kurama burns through it like water. He doesn’t like how defenceless it makes me.” she rolled her eyes, not at Shisui but at Kurama, as she finished the bottle frowning when she noticed it had gone.

Shisui’s hand clenched around her wrist as she reached for another bottle and she looked at him with furrowed brows, “Are you feeling better?”

She didn’t need to know what he was referring to, so she nodded with a teary eyed smile. A lump caught in her throat and tried to swallow it away but when had that ever worked?

Not even a moment later, she was being held to Shisui as she quietly cried, the first time she had allowed herself to actually cry for her lost comrades. She made sure to hold back as much as she could, after-all, she only needed another year or so to see her comrades again. And this time she would get to see them grow up instead of growing up with them.

The thought of baby Sasuke made her giggle but then she recalled something, Indara’s reincarnation was supposed to be older than Ashura’s. However Naruto was technically older now and had Ashura’s souls which essentially meant Sasuke wouldn’t have Indara’s soul.

Which begged the question of _who_ would get or already had Indara’s soul.

.

.

.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N
> 
> 1- Honestly, this had been my most productive month especially this week, three updates just this weekend and last week I had gotten out another one. I’m on a roll.
> 
> In case anyone is wondering, the third war has ended and Kakashi has been entered into the ANBU. If you guys want me to do like an omake on his reaction to Naruto being in ANBU or Team Minato’s reaction to the news of Naruto during her last mission, let me know and I’ll try to do a short omake of that.
> 
> Also, if you have any suggestions, I want do to some omake even if they don’t become part of the story.
> 
> 2- Anyway, I personally think I’m on a roll. I got a chapter out per day since Friday and even got two chapters out on Saturday. I’m proud of myself.
> 
> I know I do several month time-skips often however soon I’ll be doing a time-skip that’d be VERY big. Whilst the war has ended and Obito is in the village, lots of things are still going to happen.
> 
> And I’m sure many of you will be pleased to hear I’ve chosen a pairing for this fanfic but I’ll keep it to myself for a bit, I enjoy reading everyone’s reactions.
> 
> When I post the next chapter I’m going to merge 26 and 27 so when you get an update that says chapter 27 is out again, know it’s because I’ve joint part one and part two together.
> 
> Well, I think I will take a short break for a few days and then get back in business. Don’t forget to comment and I’ll see you soon!


	29. Chapter 27 (NEW)

_55 months- November- 10 years old_

.

“Kitsune, Inu.” Spoke the yondaime hokage, his face blank as he watched his sister and former student come from the shadows to kneel in front of him causing a tick to form on his forehead. He may have addressed them as their code names however he wished they would have at least eased up.

The two ANBU operatives stayed kneeling upon the ground as Shisui, Jiraiya and Orochimaru remained standing.

“I have some important news.” He gave a dramatic pause as he watched everyone’s reaction, true to form they all looked bored but remained attentive. “Kushina is pregnant.”

Silence.

Pin drop silence. And just to test his theory, one of the ANBU who switched shifts dropped a pin, causing the on alert Kitsune and Inu to throw a flurry of weapons his way, Kakashi standing in a protective stance in front of him as Naruto stood in front of Kakashi, her hand on her tonto ready to unsheathe the blade.

Their reactions caused sniggers around the room and Minato could feel Naruto glaring at Shisui and the hidden Genma who had dropped said needle and the latter received a senbon which he dodged, but he didn’t manage to dodge the explosion.

Both Kakashi and Naruto went back to where they had been kneeling but instead chose to stand, clearly still on alert as they were technically still on guard duty.

“Congrats, Minato. When’s the little brat coming?” asked Jiraiya as he put a hand onto Naruto’s shoulder, holding her firmly.

A smile made its way on to his face, “July 25th.” He tried not to frown when he saw Naruto go stiff at his proclamation but then it came to mind she was probably worried about security.

He cleared his throat and stood to look out the window, “The reason I’ve informed all of you is because of her status- you all know she is a jinchuriki and such will require additional protection. Especially when you add up the fact she is my wife so my enemies will try to kill our unborn child.” his hands clenched into fists as he thought about Onooki threatening the life of his wife. The man hadn’t done so but one could never be too careful.

A muffled throat clearing drew his attention so he turned around and saw his masked sister raise her hand, “Do you know the risks of a pregnant jinchuriki?”

Minato, in fact, did not know and as far as he knew, neither did Kushina so he shook his head, no.

“When a female jinchuriki becomes pregnant, the chakra which usually goes into the seal instead goes into the unborn child which in turn weakens the seal. When she gives birth, the seal will be at its weakest and somebody who knows what they’re doing can remove the bijuu from inside of her. The only way to prevent that would be to reinforce the seal as she gives birth and just after.” Her voice was devoid of emotion as if she wasn’t talking about something that could potentially happen to herself in the future should she decide to have children.

Minato seethed at the mere  _thought_  of someone touching his sister.

“You know far more about this than Kushina does.” He said.

Naruto shrugged her shoulders, “I know a lot more since I get around more. Blood clones and transformations justsu’s are amazing.” She said wistfully but added, “There’s also the little fact that I get along with my tenant far more than she does hers.”

Just as Minato opened his mouth to reply, she interrupted, “Also, when Lady Mito gave birth her seal nearly completely came undone so as a safety precaution she’d have to give birth outside the village.” she added as an afterthought and Minato raised his hand to stop her from rambling.

When Naruto started it was hard to stop her from going on and on with security measures or fuinjustu. “We’ll discuss the details at a later time, sometime tomorrow. For now, I’d like for you all to go and think over what is written in these scrolls.” He reached out and handed each of them a scroll which he had written up about Kushina’s protection but according to Naruto, he’d need to make another plan for that.

.

.

.

_62 months- June_

.

“Naruto, you’re fussing over nothing.” Kushina said in a frustrated tone as she watched her student turned sister-in-law fuss about her and her safety.

Naruto turned around and gave her an incredulous look, “You’re due any day now and tou-san isn’t even here!” she waved her hands up as her chakra swirled around inside her.

Kushina gave her a calm smile, “I’m not due for another six weeks. June has only just started Naruto.”

Naruto pointed a finger at her bulging stomach where her maternity tunic clung, “You’re pregnant with twins! You could go into labour at any  _minute_!”

“Not likely.”

She squinted her eyes as she looked at her stomach with her sage mode activated. Apparently she had a shaodwclone which had been absorbing nature chakra. “I knew a lady who gave birth two whole months early, gave her a start especially when she had to admit I was right.”

When Temari had given birth they had been so scared since Gaara had been premature and his mother had passed away. However Sakura was still alive at the time and had healed up the blonde to a point it seemed like she hadn’t even given birth.

Naruto could see with her sage mode the two moving around inside her sister-in-law, both were moving around a lot and apparently were training their taijutsu on each other with the amount of kicks they were dishing each other out.

Honestly, Kushina should take her more seriously when it came to things like this. After-all, Minato wasn’t even in the damn village and was instead in Suna for the time being working on a peace treaty that would benefit both sides and not just a neutral treaty as they had been given in her time.

Naruto had originally been sent as an envoy seeing as she was the sister of the yondaime hokage, back in December last year and had seen Gaara’s mother.

She had requested a meeting with Rasa as a show of good faith said she would create a better seal for him to place on his wife and baby. He had at first been sceptical but when Lady Chiyo had seen her handy-work he had allowed her to put on the seal onto the First Lady when she had been giving birth. With the help of Rin who had been apprenticing under Tsunade, she had managed to help save Gaara and his mother from a cruel fate.

It was strange, seeing Gaara so small, barely the size of and adult hand in his curled up state, as well as seeing him without those rings around his eyes and the love katakana on his forehead.

Seeing him had acted like proof that there was a future waiting for all of them and hopefully, it’d be a bright future for them.

She heard Kushina groan at the false contraction and Naruto prayed Minato would be back in time. After all, if someone tried to take Kurama out of Kushina, they might just take it out of her since she had most of him inside of her.

Hopefully with their joint seals, it should prevent Kurama from being ripped out but one could never be too careful with Zetsu and Madara plotting in the shadows- the perks of time-travel.

The rest of the day was spent fussing over the current First Lady of Konoha before Kakashi came to switch shifts with her.

.

.

.

 _A few days later_.

.

Naruto felt like cursing her good luck. 

She just  _knew_  Kushina would go into early labour this week but would anybody listen? No. The only good thing was that Minato had returned after signing a new peace treaty with Suna. 

Currently she was guarding the entrance to the cave with Kakashi as Shisui remained inside and if necessary he would use his kekkei-genkai on Kurama.

If necessary. 

Kushina's water had broken however she wasn't dilated enough to give birth but Rin and Tsunade as well as Lady Biwako said the children had to come out. After putting Kushina under they were performing a C-section which to be fair, was the most logical thing they could do when it comes to twins.

Ouch.

Several hours later of pain within Naruto’s own abdomen, they were finished taking the two from her and were in the midst of healing her.

Naruto and Kakashi were still alert though, making absolutely sure nothing and no one breaches their security. 

Which quite frankly would be impossible since Naruto had the leaders of each of her summons outside and her clones sensing for others whilst collection nature chakra. 

After two hours of healing Kushina was finally ready to be transported back home and everyone sighed in relief. Everything had gone smoothly, no one had died and no one had attacked, which made Naruto very smug.

Even Kurama was enjoying himself by burning different versions of Madara and other people he didn’t like.

Naruto chose not to ask.

.

.

.

_65 months- September_

.

Naruto banged her head against her table as she looked at the scroll as if her memory and the scroll were wrong. She understood she messed with history but she really, really didn’t want to learn everyone’s new birthdays.

Especially given there was one person’s birthday not amongst the others.

Everyone’s new birthday went as follows; Gaara on January 19th, Shino January 29th, Sakura April 19th, Chouji June 9th, the twins Arashi and Narumi June 10th, Kiba July 17th, Shikamaru September 8th, Ino September 12th and Hinata October 22nd.

She had messed with history so much that Sasuke had never been born. Well, at least not _yet_. As far as Naruto understood, Mikoto was pregnant and due in December but the catch was… she was pregnant with a  _girl_.

 _What_?

Jiraiya laughed at her plight which caused her to glare in his direction with her face on the table, too lazy to pick up her head to do so. At the moment her brain was pure mush.

The sound of crying jolted her up and she hastily sealed everything away and went over to the crying red haired boy. Arashi had Kushina’s red hair, the same whisker marks as Naruto, Minato’s blue eyes and Kushina’s pale skin.

Narumi on the other hand had strawberry blonde hair and Kushina’s violet eyes and her pale skin and had whisker marks on each cheek.

For whatever reason it made Naruto happy that neither of her siblings (niece and nephew) looked like her. But whenever she’d feel like that she’d mentally slap herself for being silly.

Something Kurama would often tell her was not petty, stating how she would have been upset if they had looked like her and gotten to be loved in a way she hadn’t been given a chance as a child due to all that had gone wrong- from both her parents and the village.

Arashi stopped crying at the sight of his aunt appearing, cooing at the child before picking him up and rocking him back and forth, smiling as he tugged on her hair with a giggle.

“Ooohh, what’s wrong with little Arashi?” she cooed in a baby voice as he began to cry again and deduced he must be hungry since his nappy was dry.

Warming up the milk Kushina had left for the twins in boiling water, she went around the room in hopes of finding his plushie.

She had made it to be funny and fully expected it to be rejected but she had been entirely heart-warmed when the child clung onto the plushie of Kurama like a lifeline whenever he went places. It seemed to make Kurama very smug for reasons she didn’t dare ask about as he seemed to be getting weirder as the days went by.

Once the milk was warm enough she placed it in the baby’s mouth allowing him to drink it and he readily did so. Naruto didn’t understand why Kushina and Minato said Arashi was hard to feed, whenever she tried he drank like he was in the desert without any water for days.

She looked out the window as he drank, the boys getting back to what they had been doing before Arashi woke up and she closed her eyes, taking a mental break as the baby drank.

.

.

.

_A week later._

.

Naruto breathed in heavily as she massaged her forehead with both hands. She didn’t understand why Minato was in such a panic. She was asking to leave the village to continue her work for an undecided amount of time, something she didn’t even  _need_  permission for she had reminded him.

“Can’t this… trip… take place after Arashi and Narumi are older? They’re both so fond of you and are attached to you.” He implored her with his eyes but Naruto wouldn’t waver.

She could finally leave the village and sort out things in  _other_  villages and not just in her own village.

“There’s a lot I need to do, aniue. Sandaime-sama gave me this rank for a reason and I intend to make use of it. Give me my missions on the go from outside Konoha and I will do my duty, but you cannot keep me locked here. If you really need me, or my help, within the village I can make a blood-clone to remain in Konoha.”

She didn’t want to leave, not when she could stay here and watch everyone grow up but she had her duty to fulfil. Peace wasn’t going to be easy especially since the last war only ended the previous year.

Minato didn’t say a thing so she bowed and left via hiraishin to her apartment, sighing when she saw Iruka and Shisui playing a game of shogi.

“What did he say?” asked Iruka without looking up from the board.

She gave them a small smile but it didn’t quite reach her eyes, “He can’t deny me my request to leave and he can’t deny Orochiamru nor tou-san either. Jiraiya is Konoha’s spy master and can come and go as he pleases whereas Orochimaru is given free reign as long as he reports in regularly. The only actual issue would be getting Shisui to come with us.”

Naruto hadn’t wanted to take Shisui away from the village, she wanted him closer to his clan to keep an eye on them but that wasn’t possible. Despite the years having gone by, Naruto was still terribly addicted to Shisui’s chakra and still required frequent doses of it.

She didn’t want to explain to Minato why Shisui was needed out of the village so she had been hoping they would get away with it, after all, despite how long ago it was no one had told him  _why_  she was always near the Uchiha.

“That won’t actually be a problem.” Replied Shisui to her earlier statement causing her to furrow her brows.

“Orochimaru-sama came by whilst you were talking to your brother and said he wanted to take Shisui as an apprentice. He confessed that it was because of our little problem but he also said he could make an amazing student out of him and would teach him properly." Iruka was rudely interrupted by an elated Shisui.

"Ha! I win!” she chuckled as Shisui laughed at Iruka misery of having lost against their teammate, going off into her kitchen to start cooking some food.

An hour later they had to leave as the construction workers began fixing the room, they had removed the two dividing walls but they needed to have a nice finish and sort out the rooms.

Naruto wouldn’t be able to use this apartment herself till she returned from her trip but she managed to bribe Genma to live there as a roommate, him paying the rent for ‘one’ apartment as she paid the remaining as well as the construction bill.

He had offered to help pay for construction but she said it would be fine as she had been taking several high ranking and paying missions as of late.

And on the day Naruto was leaving she made sure she visited everyone, including Nagato, Yahiko and Konan. She left a few blood clones in the village under henge and the only ones who would know their true identity were few.

She also left one that looked like her so Arashi and Narumi got to know her and trust her like one should their aunt.

.

.

.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> not that long, I know, but this chapter marks the end of the first arc, the war arc.
> 
> The next chapter will mark a new arc which also marks a large time-skip.
> 
> I’ve already messaged this person in reply to their question but I wanted to make sure everyone is on the same page.
> 
> QUESTION: So does this Naruto have the complete Kurama from her time sealed in her or only half because if it is half then she shouldn't be unsettled about there being two Kurama's when that was the same way in her time, the difference being that one is complete and the other is only half.
> 
> ANSWER: In the show, Naruto only has half of Kurama's chakra inside of her and that merged after the Allied Shinobi War but in this, both yin and yang merged during the war. 
> 
> Because Naruto's seal was stronger than Kushina's as well as Naruto's control over his chakra, both the yin and the yang chakra inside of Kushina entered Naruto but in order to keep Kushina alive, Kurama left some of his chakra inside of her. There is also a tether that allows the elder to draw on his chakra from inside Naruto.
> 
> I've done something similar to the Naruto movie of the parallel universe where there were two Kurama's, but there's one and a half in Naruto and only half in Kushina. In the show, the half inside Naruto had a personality and was 'alive' so the half in Kushina is the same.
> 
> Anyway, thanks for reading and don't for get to comment! Till next time!


	30. Chapter 28

_4 years and 11 months later- a grand total of 10 years and 6 months in the past- October_

.

“How’s it going, Iruka?” Iruka grinned a Cheshire cat grin to his old teammate and his ANBU captain. Both Shisui and Kakashi were wearing their ANBU masks, Hebi and Inu as they approached him.

“Same old, same old. Nothing interesting, well, other than Rin coming back from her mission.” He gave a shrug and held back a chuckle as Kakashi’s interest piqued.

Kakashi was by no means attracted to his teammate, but he liked to keep tabs on them, whether it be Team Minato or his own ANBU team- Team Ro.

“Did she say where she was going?” asked the silver haired ninja with a drawl in his voice, trying and failing to sound uninterested- well at least t a person who knew him very well.

Iruka nodded and looked him in the eye, once again feeling a gleeful that he was tall enough to do so. He recalled a time when he was an entire head shorter than the Copy Ninja but now they stood at nearly equal heights. This feeling was crushed when he noticed that within the last month, Shisui had gotten to  _exactly_  Kakashi’s height.

He gave Kakashi a small smile which didn’t quite reach his eyes, “She went to visit Obito. Apparently she received an update stating he had gotten worse.”

No one could understand it. Obito would constantly get better but then Rin would be gone and he would go under again, all the progress he had made would go down the drain.

Kakashi gave him a small nod and went to stand next to Shisui who stood beside Iruka who wouldn’t get off his shift for another two hours.

“Have you heard anything from Naruto recently?” Iruka asked either of them, his last letter from the blonde fresh in his mind and he had to force himself not to smile as he recalled the secret on it.

Kakashi shook his head whereas Shisui clenched his fist, “Nothing.” It was unlike Naruto not to update  _Shisui_  of all people considering he had to keep up with her, to protect her.

It was a job their hokage had given him specifically when he had found out about her addiction to the Uchiha, but Iruka knew without a doubt that Shisui would have done so forever even without the hokage telling him to do so. After-all, he had been doing that for so much longer than the hokage had even  _known_  about the addiction.

Iruka gave a shrug of his shoulder as they walked around the top of the wall, “I’m sure she’ll send a message soon.”

Iruka already knew the blonde wouldn’t be sending any other messages, and if she did it would be to tell the Uchiha she would take longer than she had intended to get home from Kusa.

They carried on their patrol around the their section of the walls in silence after that, none of them caring much for small talk whilst on duty when they could do so when off duty at any time.

Once it was Iruka’s change of shift, he made sure Shisui took his medication, knowing he would forget and worry everyone sick if he collapsed.

Shisui didn’t have to take them all the time, but he needed to take a small dose of Naruto’s blood every other week, something Shisui often forgot given the long gap between each dose so people around him made sure he took it.

Shisui hadn’t always needed it, in fact, he had only started to need her blood a year after Naruto had left for her outer village work. He had been fine, taking missions as usual however he had been delivered a fatal blow to his abdomen, and had been in a coma for a week before he had begun to show signs of recovery.

And he had only shown proper signs of recovery when Naruto came back to heal him, and no one knew the exact details of what she had done but everyone had been thankful. The only detail they knew was she had given her blood to him, a lot, which caused an addiction.

Of course, the information about his addiction was S rank and the only people who knew what his medication was were; Iruka, Kakashi, Rin, Minato, the sandaime, Jiraiya and Orochimaru. Of course there was also Naruto but it was common sense she’d know about the addiction.

Coincidentally, this was about the same time Obito’s progress would change a lot but no one paid any heed to that oddity, after all, they were two different situations that happened at two different times.

.

.

.

Shisui was feeling  _homicidal_  and was ready to  _murder_  someone. It had been a whole  _month_  since he had heard anything about Naruto and it had been even longer since he had seen her. Sure, she didn't  _need_  him there all the time to give her his chakra since they had stored some away but that was entirely besides the point. He didn't like the silence one bit and he hated that no one understood where he was coming from. 

His father would say he was being  _ridiculous_  and that worrying was a waste of his  _time_  and effort. His uncle Fugaku didn't really care either way, Itachi said he was acting like a love-sick  _girl_  and his teammates were worse. They didn't care.

It seemed like he was the only person worried about his blonde teammate and he was ready to illegally leave the village to find her. He hadn't even heard from Lord Orochimaru or Lord Jiraiya which was even more concerning. 

Naruto may technically be older than him in a mental state, but physically she was a year younger than him and he knew she was prone to accidents all the tome and had no regard for her own life. Out of everyone from their graduating class, she had the most injuries however none went marked by hospital as by the time she got there.

The hospital often claimed she couldn't be a front line shinobi given her clean record.

' _They wouldn't think that if they went put to the field with her._ ' He though mirthfully 

Currently, he was sat with Kakashi, Iruka, Genma, Raido and Itama in a tea house which sold decent food and dango.

Shisui didn’t have the sweet tooth Itachi had but he was in a foul mood and needed something sweet in his system or he really  _would_  kill someone. 

He had just finished his tea when a set of hands curled around his chest from his back and a husky voice whispered in his ear, "Happy birthday, Shisui."

He shivered from hearing her voice and took a hold of both of her hands in his. He noticed she had painted her nails black today, which meant she was wearing something brightly coloured.

He turned his head to the side and was greeted by the blue eyes of his teammate he had been worried sick about for the last three weeks.

Without his knowledge, he began to pump his chakra into her and coated it around her, revelling in the shiver and the look of ecstasy on her face, her head tilted back and a low moan escaping her.

Naruto Namikaze would make her future husband a _lucky_ man.

She gave him a half lidded glare before holding his head to her chest, running her finger through his hair as a blush forming on his face at her method of revenge for doing that in public. 

A smile formed on his face when he registered her words, he hadn’t even realised it was his birthday today. As gift to himself, he took a hold of her and clutched her to him, breathing in her scent- orange and trees.

Her hair had gotten longer than when they had begun travelling, reaching the back of her knees but she often tied it up. He loosened his hold and stood up, his arm around her shoulders and took in her appearance.

True to form, she wore black shinobi trousers with an orange haori with black flames licking it and underneath she wore a black and orange shirt. It wasn’t as bright as he had initially thought but still brighter than what should be legal for a person as accident prone as herself.

There was a cough behind him so they turned to see everyone’s eyes sparkling, “Well, well Shisui… Are you done checking out Konoha’s heartbreaker?” asked Genma, his brows wiggling suggestively at Naruto who threw the blunt end of her kunai at his stomach.

“Behave, Genma.” She admonished before grinning, “We all know _you’re_ not pretty enough for me, at least Shisui has a better chance taking me to bed compared to your attempt a few years back.”

Genma didn’t bat a lash, “You said pretty, you do realise he’s a boy right.”

Naruto grinned showing her sharp teeth, “Of course, I’m his teammate and I’ve seen his kunai in the onsen before. Would you like the details?”

Shisui and Iruka blushed a bright red and before either of their generations top perverts could carry on their conversation Shisui shunshined them a few times till they reached her apartment.

He groaned as soon as they arrived, going backwards to slouch on the sofa, hands on his face, “Did you have to encourage them? They already misunderstand our relationship and this’d just feed those rumours.”

He heard her laugh lowly and he removed his hands to see her bright smile, feeling a small smile break onto his face till she asked, “And how are those rumours treating your clan?”

His smile vanished as a grim, dark look covered his face as he recalled the night which rumours destroyed his clan. Naruto’s eyes filled with sadness as she knelt in front of him, her memory of that night fresh in her mind as it was in his own.

.

.

.

FLASHBACK

.

_1 year 6 months since Naruto left the village_

_._

_Naruto, Shisui, Orochimaru and Jiraiya had been called back to Konoha to help with Kushina’s second birth, and this time it was a single child so she would go through the normal procedures of childbirth but as she was the jinchuriki she had to go to the outskirts of the village to give birth again._

_Naruto and Orochimaru were on guard outside when the attack had started. An army of White Zetsu flooding the area, and without their notice, a masked individual with the sharingan had gone inside and kidnapped Kushina as they had fought off Zetsu and Isobu._

_Once Naruto had hit him Isobu hard enough, she managed to knock out the sharingan’s control over him._

_She didn’t understand what was going on till she felt a crushing pain in her abdomen. Kurama was being sucked out of her seal and into Kushina’s own seal, but thankfully for both of them- whoever was waking him out only had enough strength to take out half of Kurama. Meaning Kushina wouldn’t face any permanent damage._

_Naruto hadn’t caught sight of any of her travelling companions as she made her way to Kurama and Kushina, tightening Kushina’s seal by overriding her current one with one similar to the one on Killer Bee._

_She would have used the eight trigram seal however she didn’t have the time do so as Kurama was being controlled to destroy the village, something he had no control over._

_Resealing half of Kurama inside of Kushina whilst her own seal was on fire hadn’t been easy but she had managed by forcing the pain out of her mind. She had no time to feel pain whilst her people were being threatened._

_She had no time as he oldest friend was being controlled by some psycho._

_The sealing didn’t take long, just long enough for Kurama to have taken down several buildings and houses, but long enough to do serious damage that would take long to rebuild._

_By the time she was done, she was exhausted. Fighting Zetsu, Isobu and then sealing Kurama was tiring considering she hadn’t gotten any sleep as Kushina had been in labour for over a day._

.

END OF FLASHBACK

.

“They plan on going through with it and I don’t know what to do to stop them. Minato-sama is doing what he can and Fugaku-sama is against this coup but… there’s nothing I can do.” Helplessness didn’t suit Shisui and Naruto felt like kicking the Uchiha elders up their arses for putting such a look on her teammates face.

She gave him a heart-warming grin that made him feel better than her words did, “Well… I’ve been given free reign by the sandaime to do as I please which also means I can, theoretically, help your clan integrate back into the village without anyone facing any backlash.”

Her eyes shone with such innocence that Shisui _knew_ she had something up her sleeve but he didn’t care. If she wanted to help his clan not get massacred or be used as puppets then he’d gladly pay the piper whatever price was owed.

.

.

.

Fugaku looked at the blonde girl in front of him. He had seen the version of her which remained in the village however that version did not change much other than in height. The person in front of him was a young woman in her mid-teens who knew what effect she had on perverted males.

Fugaku was thankfully not a perverted male, at least not when the subject was anyone other than his wife.

“Could you run that by me again, Namikaze-san? I think I may have misheard you.” He asked, wanting to make sure his age hadn’t affected his hearing.

She gave him a patient smile and repeated her sentence, “I wish to help out the Uchiha clan with police business. As it stands, after the whole Kyuubi incident you guys are short staffed to deal with all the ruckus within the village and could use additional support. At least this way you’d all get more rest and time to yourselves.”

He looked at the yondaime’s sister sceptically, “And how will you, on your own, help out with such a large order? There is only one of you.” He pointed out.

She waved her hand, “That’s a non-issue. I can make a load of blood-clones which will help with matters. There’s also the fact that I’m a sage and have both great hearing and a great sense of smell. Finding will never be a problem and if I need to think about something, I could come up with a multitude of theories within a few minutes.”

She wasn’t boasting, Fugaku noted. Instead, she was laying out a portfolio of sorts, telling him her strengths but as she did so, told him her weaknesses. She had great hearing and smell which could be used against her by the use of loud sounds or strong smells.

He thought about her offer. If the Uchiha clan were seen with the yondaime’s sister it would show the village that they were not behind the attack 3 and a half years ago.

On the other hand, people would think the yondaime had sent his sister to spy on them from the inside under the guise of helping the clan. He knew the elders well enough to know they would web the girls good intent into a scheme that didn’t even exist.

“Is there any way I could have a confirmation that is your idea and not something the yondaime came up with? Just to show the clan.” He asked and she squinted her eyes at him.

“If I gave you such a document, your clan could say the yondaime was like the other hokage who did no favours to your clan.”

Ah, Fugaku hadn’t thought about that. Really, there would be no winning against the elders.

He nodded and said, “Thank-you for the offer and I will get back to you once I have discussed this with the clan elders.” He bowed his head to her as she rose fluidly, giving him a small bow before taking her leave from his office.

Fugaku chuckled. Minato Namikaze had offered him help previously and he had turned it down due to the elders but he would not do so with his sister. Whilst the elders may be able to twist Minato’s intentions, they couldn’t twist Shisui’s teammate’s intentions.

.

.

.

“What do you mean you’re a jonin?!” yelled Iruka, hands on the table as he stood leaning over the table of Ichiraku.

His loud voice caused Kakashi and Naruto to rub their sensitive ears but she managed to grin through it, “I took the exam in Kiri a few years back and got promoted ‘tebayo.” She replied cheerfully.

Iruka glared at her, “You can’t take the exam in a foreign nation we don’t have a treaty with and get the jonin promotion!”

He had a point there, “Technically, I got the title by default really. Kiri has a treaty with Suna who we have a treaty with. Since Suna could confirm and allowed my rank as jonin, Konoha could do the same thing.” She explained. It was a lot harder than she had said. The amount of paperwork there was to be dealt with made her happy she didn’t have to do it anymore.  

Naruto shook her head, “Enough about me. When did you make jonin and make it into T&I?” she asked, genuinely curious about what had happened during the time away.

Iruka rubbed the back of his head nervously as he finally sat down, “I made jonin after Tatsumaki was born but I’d made it in T&I a year after that.”

Tatsumaki was the unfortunate name of her second nephew and for the life of her Naruto didn’t understand what Minato and Kushina were thinking when they names each of their children.

Narumi meant the roaring of the sea.

Arashi meant storm.

Tatsukami meant tornado. 

They seemed to enjoy naming these children of theirs after something to do with the weather and it made her wonder what the hell they were going to name the next one considering Kushina was pregnant again.

She really was trying to revive the Uzumaki clan the best she could.

But then again, it wasn’t like Nagato wasn’t doing the exact same thing. Well, not really, considering he was artificially inseminating the women and not actually sleeping with them.

Kurama snorted in her mind, _‘ **As if the purple haired girl or the orange haired boy would allow him to do so. His two lovers are awfully strange.’**_

 _‘Do you find them strange because of what we know or because they’re a threesome?’_ she genuinely wanted to know his answer but he gave none.

Naruto saw the subtle pinkness around Iruka’s scar and her eyes gleamed brightly with mischief as she leaned forwards, the boys with the sharingan sitting back in their chairs fully prepared for her next question “Ooooh. Has someone caught your eye in Torture and Interrogation department?” Naruto gave Iruka a once over as he blushed a deeper red, “Hmmm…. Given your demeanour and behaviour as well as that strong smell of snakes as poison coming from you, I’d have to say you’re with Anko.” She deduced.

Really, Iruka had such carrying tastes in comparison to her original version it wasn’t even funny. In her time he had been a bachelor since he had apparently liked a guy who was dead after Naruto became genin and had decided to remain a bachelor after that but this Iruka was apparently into S&M since he was dating Anko Mitarashi.

Her chunin exam proctor who had licked the blood off her cheek when they had first met.

If at all possible his blush went a shade darker and Naruto wondered if that was even healthy, she doubted it. “Now, now, Naruto-chan. It’s not nice to tease Iruka-kun.” Spoke a sweet voice behind them so they turned around to see Rin wheeling around Obito in his wheelchair.

The boy looked fragile however there was something that was causing her to sit on edge as they took their seats. Well, Rin took her seat, Obito came with a seat.

They carried on discussing things from there, how Rin was a full medic however was still a chunin whilst the guard platoon were all jonin. Obito was of course off the roster till he could make actual progress which seemed to be impossible.

She had entertained the idea of giving him her blood to heal him but she didn’t relish the idea of having Obito Uchiha addicted to her blood the way Shisui was. She could take Shisui, Obito not so much.

.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N- because I know its thanksgiving still here in UK I thought I’d rush getting this chapter out.
> 
> I wanted to let you guys know, I’ve got a doctor’s appointment tomorrow due to a lot of pain in my left wrist going up to my arm because I can see there’s a bone out of place. Because of this pain I might slow down updates or I might not. I’ll update you guys on what my GP says and hopefully it’s nothing permanent, the pain really is too much sometimes especially given my job.
> 
> Sigh. Well I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and don’t forget to comment! Till next time!


	31. Chapter 29

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From here I’ll be writing the time skips in months again but the starting point will be from when Naruto returned to Konoha which, by the way, was October if any of you were wondering. She was 15 when she returned but a week or so later she turned 16 so she’s 16, Shisui and Iruka are 17. Kakashi and his generation are 19. Minato and Kushina are 29.

 

_2 months- December_

.

Naruto now understood why Shisui complained about the UPF work a lot. It was boring. She'd take doing paperwork over running around the village sorting out a bunch of pesky kids who thought it would be a good idea to put a trap in the ground outside an elderly couples house.

Granted, the elderly couple were unnecessarily cruel to the orphans but that was still no excuse. They could have pranked them in a way that didn’t lead to bodily harm.

She had been doing this work along with her ANBU missions and her information retrieval for the past three weeks and honestly, she didn't want to do it but knew she had to. 

She had been the one to offer her assistance and she'd see it through to the bitter end. 

Really, besides the boredom that came with her department, it wasn’t that bad. The Uchihas weren't too grumpy and some seemed pretty likeable. It was a shame that mere rumours had taken down a clan like theirs.

"You look ready to bolt from boredom. Or is it flash? I can’t quite remember." Spoke Shisui and her brightened when she realised she had some form of entertainment in the form her of friend.

**_'More like addiction not friend.'_ **

_'Shut-up Kurama. We all know we were friends well before our addictions came along.'_  She replied, her face tinting pink both in her mind scape and in real life.

"Did Kurama say something? Your face is pink." He noted, taking a seat next to Naruto who was currently playing secretary. 

Of course, she had her blood clones going around the village with the Uchiha to help them out but the original had to stay in place so her multitude of memories wouldn't confuse her.

You don’t want to mix up one murder with another.

It isn't pretty.

"Ah. He's being a pervert as usual. Once he suggested I go into the middle of a town and activate my heat.  _Intentionally_. Just so he could see what would happen." She pouted at the memory.

"Did you?" He asked.

She sighed heavily and replied, "Not intentionally but yes. I didn’t realise it was mating season and I was in the middle of a busy centre. A bunch of Inuzuka had to go the opposite way and worse of all, I ran into Kakashi. Shodai that was  _embarrassing_." She blushed scarlet at the memory. Kakashi had been so confused and flustered over his reaction to her that had she not been embarrassed beyond belief she would have laughed.

Shisui winced at that, "Awkward." He muttered.

She nodded in agreement because it was a much awkward as it was embarrassing. No one wanted to get seen with a boner for their sensei's sister in public. It was bad enough getting one to begin with.

Shisui furrowed his brows in thought, "What happened after that?"

She bore her teeth at Kurama and glared at him, making sure he didn’t say anything as she replied through a cough, “Orochimaru and Jiraiya had to restrain him as Orochimaru took Kakashi a safe distance from me.”

Shisui quirked a brow, “How much is a safe distance?”

She furrowed her brows, “We were in Kawa and he had to take him to Taki before he properly calmed down.”

Both of Shisui’s brows went to his hairline. That was an impressive distance, he had assumed it would be at most the distance between Ishi and Kusa but that was a big distance he had been put through.

“Why such a big distance?”

She played with a lock of her golden hair, “Orochimaru said something about Kakashi knowing my scent or something so he couldn’t get over it.” She shrugged her shoulders, “I didn’t pay too much attention. Whenever I’m due, I tend to go to Mount Myoboku and hide there for a while since anyone can be affected.”   

Shisui nodded and chose to drop the subject, naming the different members of the clan who came into the UPF for their shift. Shisui didn’t have many shifts to take due to his job in ANBU and as a member of the hokage’s guard platoon but he did have a certain amount of hours he needed to complete.

The rest of their shift was a dull one, Naruto receiving memories of her blood clones and had shadow-clones write up everything as she reported to Shisui about what was going on.

.

_5 months- March_

.

Naruto was sitting on a tree high upon the hokage monument a top the shodai's head as she felt the bust life of the village. Shisui was out of the village with Team Ro and as it stood, she had no one to work with since she worked alone which meant she worked in silence.

It wasn’t bad and she wasn’t complaining after all this was a job she had needed and liked in comparison to being where people would notice her every movement.

From what Shisui had told her before he had been dispatched, relations between the Uchiha and the village were the same. Neither changing their positions in the current stand still which caused frustrations to build within her.

If the Uchiha’s didn’t at least try then all effort would be wasted.

Even Satsuki seemed to be being rude to her classmates which quite frankly pissed her off because Narumi and Arashi were in the same class. Well, for now anyway. Once they were allowed admittance into the academy they could choose which class they’d be in.

They had been taught by Minato, Kushina, Kakashi and Shisui whenever he was around and Naruto’s own blood clones had been teaching them as well. 

Whilst their chakra control and physical parts of the shinobi job were something they didn’t work on, they both knew the theory of everything and they would be able to easily enough learn things.

Not the bunshin.

They’d never master the bunshin just like herself and their mother.

Ah, the perks and downfall I'd being an Uzumaki with large chakra reserves.

Another reason Naruto was hiding in plain sight was so she could avoid Minato. Honestly she didn’t know what jiji had been thinking when he made that scroll never mind when he lost it.

.

FLASHBACK.

.

_"Jiji. Could you run that by me again I don’t think I heard you correctly?" She asked as she sat across the sandaime hokage in the Sartutobi estate._

_Her day had been going fine, she took a shift guarding Minato, met with some of her spies, took a shift at the UPF and helped out TI with a tough cookie earlier as well. Overall it had been an ordinary day._

_Till the sandaime dropped this bomb on her of course._

_The second God of shinobi had the decency to look flushed and embarrassed by himself, "Your memories which you showed me were taken from my memory to be recorded into a scroll which has been under strict supervision since its creation. However late last night, the scroll went missing and we cannot find it."_

_Naruto paid no mind to the tea cup she just broke by clenching it too tight and instead replied calmly, "And who gave you permission to seal my memories into a scroll, sandaime-sama."_

_Hiruzen withheld a shiver at her tone. She wasn’t yelling, she was talking quietly which made things, in his opinion, far more intimidating especially when one factored in the person doing such was an Uzumaki and the kyuubi jinchuriki._

_“Technically, the memories were not taken from you but from me, so the memories sealed were my own.”_

_She gave him a chilling smile, “Yes they were yours, but they were the ones I had shown you from my own mind so by default they were my memories you sealed away and let get stolen. I swear, sandaime-sama, if I find out Zetsu or any of his lackies have the scroll, there’s going to be hell to pay.” She left the Sarutobi elder within a golden flash and searched around the village._

_The scroll was the same size as the summoning scroll of the Toad summoners contract but that was it. It had no scent and there was no way for her to find it easily so she’d have to get the old fashioned way- kage-bunshin._

_It was several hours later one of her clones had found she scroll and after receiving the information form the rest, she made her way over to the other person she never wished to find out about her memories._

_Sure, Zetsu getting them was bad, but so was this. The look on his face was confusion and his chakra was distraught as he gazed at her with despondent eyes._

_“Why?” was all he asked and she felt her throat dry up at the singular word._

_She looked him in the eye, unflinching, “There was no need to dig up the past. You had no **part**  in it so I decided it best to  **keep**  you out of it.”_

_He flinched at her words but she couldn’t find it in herself to want to take them back. She meant them._

_Minato Namikaze had not been there so there was no need for him to know what she had been through. He was Konoha’s kage- their protector. If he knew about her life his judgement could be impaired._

_“Had you told me, I would have tried harder. I would have-”_

_“Don’t say words you don’t mean. I can’t stand people who lie, **father dearest**.” She spoke the words like chocolate dipped in poison, a bittersweet feeling._

_Minato’s expression hardened, “You had no right to keep this to yourself.”_

_She quirked a brow and was proud that she felt nothing from his comment, “I didn’t keep it a secret. I told a person who could make a difference, I told Konoha’s spy master as well as our Sannin. At a later date I told the sandaime. Orochimaru also knows. There’s no need to broadcast this information. The more of the past that changes the less I can predict it and help.”_

_They carried on arguing calmly at each other, the calm before the storm and Naruto would wait for the storm to fully brew, as would Minato._

_Then all hell would break loose._

_._

_END OF FLASHBACK_

_._

Their situation was the same. Whenever they were alone together, Minato would try to talk but she’d come up with some excuse to remove herself from his company and would go off on her own business.

The only ease she got was when she met Kushina and nothing was different. She hadn't expected Minato to go blabbing off to his wife but it had been a concern of hers. 

"What's got you hiding up here?" Asked Raido who had been walking up the steps, taking a seat at the base of the tree.

"Nothing much. I just wanna be alone for a bit." It wasn't entirely a lie.

Raido nodded in understanding, "Is it hard?" When she didn't answer he carried on, "Integrating back into the village? You've been back for months now but you always seem ready to leave. Are we that bad?" He jokingly asked but she knew he was being serious.

"There's nothing wrong with the village. I grew up here for most of my childhood after all but I've gotten used to travelling. Constantly being in different places. Going wherever I was needed. I think that's what's hard for me. Staying put."

Raido gave a hum of acknowledgement, "Lord Jiraiya is the same. He said whilst he loved the village he couldn't take the confinement that came with staying. I personally don't believe I'd mind either way." He shrugged his shoulders as he threw a kunai at an unsuspecting bystander.

Genma dodged it yelling profanities whilst Naruto whistled appreciatively, "Nice aim. How’d you manage to get it to go to your mark this far up?" She already knew the answer on how she would do it but she didn’t see Raido use any wind.

He raised his kunai and showed her the handle, on it had a small inscription of fuinjutsu and it suddenly made sense. "This seal stores different chakra affinities inside it which allows me to use them in combat without using my own reserves. Currently I can only use lightning and wind with my kunai and blades but Minato-sama is teaching me to control fire, earth and water in my attacks as well." He explained and she furrowed her brows.

"How would you use earth and water in a blade attack? I get fire, you can encase it around the blade but I dont get the others."

Raido gave her a sheepish grin and scratched the back of his head, "To be honest I'm not sure myself. It's still in the testing phase but once i get it, I'll show it to you. As long as you give me a hand with this."

He raised a scroll and Naruto’s interest piqued at the thought I'd teaching Raido some fuinjutsu. Sure, she had helped them with the Formation seal years ago but this was different. This would be something he would not have gotten without her help. 

So of course, she jumped down and landed without a sound in a crouch beside him, taking a look at the seal idea he had come up with. 

"Sensory suppression theory. You want to be able to hide your chakra even whilst in use? A tough act but not impossible." She muttered to herself and got out her fuinjutsu set, sending out some clones to get them food. She knew they'd be there for a while.

.

.

.

Shisui had just returned to the village and was listening to Kakashi debrief the yondaime about their mission. It had been bloody. Something he didn’t wish to repeat but he knew he had to as a part of the ANBU black ops.

But he had no other option available to him. Naruto was in ANBU and he had to fill in a certain amount of time and missions before he would be allowed to so solo or join Naruto for her missions.

Of course, he could always tell the hokage that his mangekyo could work wonders on controlling whatever bijuu was inside of her. Not that he _would_ control Kurama, but it was the theory of it that counted when one intended to lie to the hokage.

Just imagining Kurama after being controlled by him made him want to hide in the summoning valleys of his snake contract.

Shisui withheld a sigh, he was tired and wanted nothing more than to go home but even then, he didn't want to go to the Uchiha estate. 

Shisui had done everything he could to ensure Itachi would be kept out of the Uchiha political issues and he was rewarded with success. The young prodigy had yet to take his chunin exam, something Minato had forbidden till all shinobi were at least 12 for their own sake as they were not at war.

Of course, leaving Itachi out if the politics meant Shisui had the burden of listening to them and having to constantly fend off their ideas. He had entertained the idea of using his genjutsu but that wasn’t possible. 

Naruto would immediately know and she'd _kill_ him and then bring him back to life in order to lecture him for damaging his eyes like that. 

He also didn’t want her to have to face the fact that all her hard work wasn’t doing much good for the clan. They were stubborn and held onto the past with vice grips.

Once Team Ro had been allowed to leave he let out the sigh he had been holding and rubbed his aching shoulders, making his way through the village with Kakashi who was reading his… literature.

“You know… if memory serves correct, the Uchiha district is the opposite way, isn’t it?” it was worded into a question but it was a statement in the form of sarcasm.

“I know where my district is Kakashi.” His reply was dry and he heard Kakashi’s muffled giggle.

“So why are you coming this way? You don’t have an apartment and I don’t fancy having you stay the night.”

Shisui took no offence by Kakashi’s words, “I’ll see what I end up doing, but I just don’t want to be home tonight.” He knew there was a meeting and he didn’t want to have to go for it. He’d be informed about what happened later anyway.

There were perks to being ANBU, his clansmen couldn’t say anything about his absence since he could be taken away with the drop of a senbon. Especially since he worked directly for the hokage and not just under him like most ANBU.

Kakashi left to go to his apartment via the window and Shisui sat on the roof of the complex, debating before finally making up his mind.

.

.

.

_“What is the point of carrying on? It would be better for you to join your pink haired friend in death for that is all the use you can be for the ten tails. And once you’re dead, I’ll be able to bring the ten tails to its full power.” Obito laughed manically, waving his hands to the corpses on the ground, littering where they stood._

_It made her furious, the way he waved at their dead bodies with his bloodied left arm. A reminder that it had been him who had killed her friends when she could do nothing._

_She couldn’t rely on Kakashi sensei as he was being treated after their last battle and there was no one else capable on her side of the battlefield she could ask to fight._

_There was also the issue that no one else had Kamui._

_“Our point for carrying on is to give the kings a new and better life.  A war free world we lived for twenty years before you came along and ruined that peace. Twenty years! My generation had never **known** war till you and your merry band of bastards showed up and ruined everything dattebayo!” her growling voice rang through the large terrain that had been their battlefield. _

_Obito sighed, and massaged his forehead, “That was no more than a stalemate the five nations had come to. The gap between the first and second Great Wars was also twenty years before they all began fighting again, which led to the destructions of your mother’s home.”_

_As he spoke, he raised his hand and using a fire jutsu and used his kamui to take it somewhere else and Naruto felt a pit in her stomach as she realised where it was going._

_She turned around and wished she had her father’s hiraishin so she could have teleported them away but she didn’t and she couldn’t._

_All she could do was stare in horror as she heard their screams and felt their chakra die out as they burnt to death. The twenty-sixth company was dead and there was nothing she could do to help them._

_All that training and she was **still** helpless._

Naruto was jolted out of her nightmare when a hand came in contact with her shoulder and before she could change their positions another hand held onto the other hand which reached for her kunai.

Her intruder was wide eyed and impishly at her, “Nightmare again?” he asked as he looked down from her neck and blushed scarlet, eyes immediately going back up to her face.

Naruto personally didn’t get what was wrong with her outfit, it didn’t show any more skin than her usual clothes when she took off her haori… oh. _Oh_. She didn’t have her chest bindings on.

Then again, this was the guy who had entered the joint onsen with her inside wearing only a towel in order to not be seen by the fairer sex and to be at the receiving end of their… approached.

She went to get herself comfortable again despite his hold on her, “Yeah… the allied war.” She often had flashbacks during her sleep but they had gotten worse since she had bought Obito back from Madara and Zetsu.

She furrowed her brows when she realised something, “What are you doing in my room?” she didn’t really mind, they had shared a tent when they were genin and as they travelled they had shared rooms together.

So it didn’t immediately strike her as odd when she had seen Shisui restraining her as that was also common, Orochimaru had the bad habit of coming in unannounced so Shisui had often restrained her so she wouldn’t accidently kill him or something.

Shisui looked unsettled as he took a seat beside her, leaning against the wall. He closed his eyes as he replied, “I don’t want to go home tonight and get the third degree from dad.” Naruto knew it wasn’t the whole story but she wouldn’t push him for more information. “I was hoping I could stay here? At least for tonight?” he looked hopefully in her direction and she nodded.

“Genma moved out to move in with Raido a while ago so you can stay in his room for as long as you need.” She shrugged, she didn’t really mind the company, in fact, she preferred it. She had gotten used to the bustling life she had with Jiriaya, Orochimaru and team Kushina over the years that her home felt empty without anyone in it.

Kakashi was also no help considering he was too lazy to keep her company even though he lived right under her.

.

.

.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> right so my GP said he’d have to refer me to another doctor to do something about my wrist and that would take a few weeks. In the mean time I’ve ordered a wrist brace which should minimize the pain.
> 
> Thank-you for reading and don’t forget to comment! I enjoy reading what you all say even if you compliment me with a word or two. ;) You know who you are. I also enjoy hearing your theories, go wild.
> 
> I’m having trouble naming the next child, Hariken which means hurricane and the other is Taifu which means typhoon. If you guys have other options I’m willing to try ‘em out as long as it keeps up with naming them after the weather. I’ll change how they name their children with the next one. Maybe.
> 
> Till next time!


	32. Chapter 30

_A few days later- Beginning of April._

.

"You can’t avoid me forever." He spoke to her as he ordered the rest to go home.

She shrugged her shoulders but said nothing in reply causing him to sigh. "I understand why you kept it a secret Naruto and I don’t hold anything against you. I can’t help but feel slightly upset over you not trusting me with this information." 

Naruto glared at her father/brother, she wasn’t too sure who he was today, and replied in a dry tone, "Well excuse me for not seeking out the man who sealed a demon inside of me and left me an orphan" Sure she didn’t hate what her father had done to her as it had essentially given her a permanent friend who couldn't get away-

_'Hold it thoughts. No going yandere today 'tebayo.'_

**_'I should hope not. I recall when you’d go yandere during the war whenever someone touched your sensei or the Uchiha. Not pretty for the enemy.'_ **

Naruto had to agree. Maybe she should get a psych evaluation done to check if she was alright in the head. But then again, she mused, she already  _knew_  she wasn’t okay in the head so there was no reason to waste the Yamanakas time with petty things. 

"I do not condone the actions of my other self and from here I'll drop the topic since its entering unchartered territory." He noted as he looked into her darkened blue eyes. The same shape as Kushinas but the same shade as his own.

"On another note you might be pleased to hear Danzo is currently in ti for theft. So he won’t be able to stir up trouble for a while."

At that she furrowed her brows, “What did he steal?"

Minato worked a brow and looked at her as if he finally realised she didnt know something important, "Naruto. I never stole the scroll from the sandaime. _Danzo_ stole it and I intercepted him on my way home. When I saw it had a hokage only mark and seal on, I ordered him to be taken and I read it assuming it was for me to read."

Naruto felt both on edge and on high alert at the news. Danzo had gotten hold of the scroll and Minato hadn't stolen it. She wasn’t sure what she should feel at the moment.

"So what now?" She asked, looking tired in his direction. She was so tired of everything the she didn’t know what to do in this situation.

"Now? We can either carry on as we always have, pretending that I dont know about your real past or..." she felt dread pool in her stomach.

" _Or_?" Even to her, her voice sounded coarse and foreign, a feeling the loudmouthed ex-hokage wasn’t used to.

"Or we can tell Kushina and let the people know who you really are. Through rumours of course."

Naruto nor Kurama could tell if the yondaime was being serious or pulling an impractical joke on them, because he couldn't be seriously trying to say to her he wished people to know she was his daughter. 

 ** _'You’d be his bastard daughter technically since Kushina and Minato got married only a few years ago.'_** Murmured Kurama as she tried to do the math.

"You want to tell people... _Konoha_... that you and Kushina... had a child at 14?" She asked unsure if she had actually done the math correct.

The yondaime shrugged, "Kushina and I had been taken captive by enemy ninja at that age from a no named village. It wouldn't be hard to believe that during that time they may have... forced us to do certain things." He looked pointedly at her and she flinched, wrapping her arms around herself in self comfort.

"And how would you explain her pregnancy? Nine months is a long time."

She didn’t recall ever reading about the yondaime being kidnapped when he was younger and assumed they must have buried the archives so no one could tarnish _Konoha no Kiiro Senko’s_ name.

"It isn't uncommon for women to give birth prematurely _especially_ kunoichi. We were held captive for a month and when we came back she had been off the roster for some time due to psychological trauma. This was for six months. We can say she gave birth to you five months in." 

As she listened to his reasoning she saw for the first time the student of Jiraiya. Jiraiya could make an interesting porn and romance novel from spying on women and Minato just created a new story plot as well.

To be honest she’d buy a novel like that to read in her spare time, not that she’d ever tell him.

“That makes for an interesting read but not much for real life.” She pointed out, cursing for telling him it was interesting.

Minato gave her a knowing smile, “Jiraiya sensei and I have told more unbelievable stories than that. Uzushio had only been destroyed a few years before this incident, we can say the reason we gave you up was so the enemy wouldn’t get wind of you. And we can say we gave you to my father and the Uzumaki woman sensei had said had birthed you. And because my father is… was unreliable, he gave you up to sensei whilst in Ame. Perfect cover story.”

Naruto needed a few moments to take in the story. It made sense. Sort of. She just didn’t get why he wanted people to know. They’d worked hard for her original cover-story and now he wanted a new story.

“You don’t have to make up your mind just yet. Simply give it some thought and tell me what your think. Okay?” she nodded slowly and made her way to her apartment, wondering if Gamakichi had any advice for her.

.

.

.

“Wait, what? You guys… returned Sasori of the Red Sand to Sunagakure?” asked Kakashi and Naruto doesn’t recall a time he had looked so invested in partaking in their conversations.

Naruto, Iruka, Shisui, Rin, Kakashi, Genma, Raido, Iwashi and Anko had all got together to try and get Naruto drunk and to let loose. Of course, that was never going to happen for reasons they weren’t all aware of, but it was entertaining to watch their attempts continuously fail.

They had gotten on the topic of what she had been doing during her time away and she had mentioned this incident. The last time they had tried to get her drunk she had mentioned the incident when she met the new swordsmen; Kisame and Zabuza.

She had also run into Suigetsu and his older brother Mangetsu, but she wasn’t going to mention _that_ encounter- she’d never hear the end of it.

She shrugged and downed her entire bottle of sake, wincing at the feeling it left in her throat, “We bumped into him whilst in Taki and decided to hand him over to the Kazekage. I won’t be forgetting Lady Chiyo’s face when she saw Sasori as a puppet anytime soon.” She shivered at the memory. Sasori had given her a trauma which left her frightened of all puppets.

Poor Kankuro had such a hard time calming her down when she had seen him use Sasori and his mother and father puppets. She’d nearly burnt them and fire wasn’t even her _element_.  

Iruka hummed as he took a shot, his other hand wondering somewhere behind Anko and she didn’t want to know where, “Didn’t you make a friend in Suna? Baka or something?”

Everyone laughed at Iruka’s comment, “ _Baki_. He’s the carer to the Kazekage’s children and when they’re older he’ll be their jonin instructor. Private of course, since they won’t be joining the academy.” Naruto’s smile dimmed slightly when she recalled the Sand siblings but put her smile back on her face.

She was here in an attempt to let loose, not to get depressed.

She chugged down the cup Shisui had been about to drink and the Uchiha attempted to glare at her, “That was miiiine Naruto.”

She chuckled at his display and said, “You’ve had enough to drink, mister.”

Shisui shook his head and took her hand, dragging her to the food part of the bar they were at and asked her to read the menu.

She had only read a few items when he reached in front of it, making her look up in confusion, “Are you okay?”

She was mildly surprised at the serious tone in his voice and noted he didn’t smell like strongly of sake and assumed he hadn’t drank as much as she had assumed.

She gave him a confused smile and nodded, “Why wouldn’t I be? I’m the most sober person in the room and I’m getting at least a year’s worth of blackmail.” There was a mischievous glint in her eyes as she looked back at the table.

"You know that's not what I mean." He gave a quick and subtle glance around to make sure no one was listening before continuing, "You didn’t tell me about Minato-sama knowing."

Her eyes widened, "He told you?"

Shisui shook his head no, "He approached me earlier saying he wanted to discuss something and asked if I knew about your life before arrived with Jiraiya-sama. Naturally I said what you told all of us and he looked pretty let down. I left one of my snake summons outside to eavesdrop and he was talking to lord third about your _past_." He said past in a way that emphasised which past he was referring to.

Naruto let out a sigh, she was really tired of all this, "I'll have to speak with him about being careful... also I didn’t get a chance to tell you about him. He found out whilst you were away on mission and I didn’t know how to bring it up in conversation especially given that we're usually surrounded by friends."

She dragged her hands over her face, feeling a lot older than she was but then she had to remind herself she was technically 32 years old and had taken part in two wars as well as having to face the drama that came with the aftermath of war. 

She finally understood why the sandaime always complained about being too old for something, although Naruto was still in her prime both mentally and physically. 

A hand rubbing her shoulder brought her out of her musings, "Well sort everything out later. I just wanted to make sure you're alright after all but I think I made it worse."

She gave him a small smile and got up, leaning upwards to give him a hug. She didn’t like that Shisui had grown like a weed during their years of travelling was a few inches taller. Although, she was a lot taller now than she had been originally.

The perks of a nutritious diet.

"Thankyou. I don’t know what I'd do without your help Shisui."

She could feel him stiffen before relaxing in her warm embrace, hugging her back till they heard a throat being cleared behind them.

Genma and Iruka looked positively gleeful at them and they mentally groaned. 

"What would you two like us to order for you? Today's special, chicken Teriyaki or the key to the backroom and a contraceptive pill?" 

The barrage of weapons that came Genma’s way didn’t faze him not did it come as a surprise but he still wore a cheeky grin the rest of the evening, enjoying himself a bit too much in Naruto’s opinion.

They all made their way back to the table after ordering their food and Naruto looked beseechingly at Raido, “Is there no way to control him, Raido?” she groaned as she pointed to Genma who was saying something to Anko.

Raido gave her a sympathetic smile, “Afraid not, Naruto. We could always try to get lord fourth to order him to behave?”

Everyone snorted at that, even if they managed to get him to give the order, Genma would never follow it.

Before anyone could retort, Anko began talking, “So, Naruto, Shisui. You’re both virgins, right?”

There was spluttering, red faces and wide eyes all around the table minus Naruto, Genma and Anko. Naruto gave her a quizzical look, “You know I go into heat every year since I turned ten. How do you think I deal with it?” she raised a brow causing Shisui and Rin to turn a brighter shade of red resembling Kushina’s hair.

Anko, Genma and Iruka took interest in the conversation and all leaned forward. “It’s January. Shouldn’t you be in heat right now?” asked Kakashi as he finished his cup of sake.

“I’m taking this pill as a part of this test but I’ve also got this seal on which prevent you from catching any scent off me.”

Kakashi took a deep breath from his nose and nodded, “I can’t smell a thing from you. Not even the sake you’ve been drinking.”

She gave him a smug smile however Anko who carried on the conversation they had been having previously, “Oh, pray tell, who was it that got the honour of deflowering Konoha’s heartbreaker and at what age?”

Naruto took Anko’sa sake bottle and downed it before answering, “13. And I don’t recall to be honest. Either Kakashi over there or Kirigakure’s Second coming of the Demon.”

If they knew, they knew and if they didn’t it made her life easier. And _that_ was something most kunoichi lost in training anyway, their training regime was usually quite strenuous for the body.

Kakashi of course knew everyone, “Mangetsu Hozuki. I’d have to assume this was when you took your jonin exam in Kiri, right?”

Really, she hadn’t expected anyone to know the guy considering he only recently got his title. This was a conversation she didn’t want Shisui hearing. Sure, he knew about Kakashi but not Mangetsu.

Shit, Kakashi- Rin.

Naruto looked over to the girl who hastily excused herself, not that anyone else paid any attention to that little detail of their evening.

“Is that the same guy who had some choice words to say about Konoha ninja- particularly those with kekkei-genkai and was continuously flirting with you back in Kiri?”

‘ _Shit_.’

She looked over to Shisui and saw his sharingan active, “Calm down. I was in heat at the time and no one was around to stop us.”

Her words seemed to just make him angrier and everyone shifted uneasily at the animosity coming from him. Naruto got up from her seat and took a hold of his wrist, bidding everyone goodbye as she teleported them back to her apartment.

She forced him to take a seat and looked flabbergasted at him, “What is wrong with you? You’ve never had a problem with who I take to bed tebayo!”

He stood up and his eyes turned to the mangekyou but neither of them looked away from the others eyes, “I don’t like him. I don’t like how he objectified you, treated you as a prize to be won which you let him win!” Shisui had never raised his voice in anger towards her and it gave her a momentary pause to appreciate the sight of an anger, messy haired Uchiha.

She shook her head

"I'd hardly call it letting him win me considering I was in heat and he has no memory of it! At that point I honestly don’t think I would have refused anyone who approached me dattebayo!" 

She didn’t get where his anger was coming from nor did she understand where hers came from. She was never this defensive when it came to her sex life and he was never this irritated. 

And she doubted it had to do with her honour either because that was just stupid. 

"And I still don’t get why you're so angry! Minus the fact that he's a total tool you two got along!"

Shisui practically growled as he leaked his chakra around the room, altering the ANBU outside her apartment but a simple hand-sign to them had them going back to their posts.

Shisui tugged roughly at his hair as he looked accusingly at her, "You don’t get it!" He said through clenched teeth as he clenched his eyes shut as if in pain. 

"Okay. So explain it to me. I don’t like this. I don’t like us arguing especially over something as stupid as a guy I met years ago."

He looked at her and if possible the pain in his eyes intensified and she didn’t like it. She never wanted to cause her comrades pain like this, especially Shisui or Iruka.

They were practically family to her. 

.

.

.

Minato looked over the documents on his desk and once he had made sure he knew what it was saying, he looked up at the Uchiha head.

“Fugaku. It’s been a while.” He gave the man his usual charming smile as he reached his hand out to shake, the patriarch shook his hand and took a seat across the hokage.

“Indeed it has, Minato. To what do I owe your summons to your office?” he asked, folding his hands into the sleeves of his haori.

Minato folded his hands under his chin, “I wanted to discuss matters of your clan. I know my sister helps out at the UPF and I’ve discussed a few things with her which we came to an agreement on. Things we hope you can agree to as well.”

Fugaku straightened his back as he listened to what he had to say. “We agree that the clan has too much burden on their shoulders and we want to ease it. We want you to integrate back into this village. I know your clan had nothing to do with the attack the night of Tatsumaki’s birth and I want the people to acknowledge that.

“As such, I suggest we change it from the Uchiha Military Police force to the Konoha Military Police Force and allow others qualified to join. This will also allow your clansmen to branch out into other departments outside of the police force- as long as they qualify. How does that sound to you?”

Minato waited for a reply from Fugaku who looked carefully blank, his expression giving nothing away. “Any division?” he finally asked and Minato nodded.

“Any. Be it T&I, infiltration, ANBU, Hunters or medics even. As long as they fill in the criteria that is required to be filled in, they will be granted access to any division they wish.”

Fugaku nodded his head slowly, “I assume you have this proposition written?” Minato reached to give the scroll he had been previously reading. Fugaku took it and stood, “I will talk to the elders about his proposition, but they should agree. Naruto’s help with the force has been of much help to us and this should make it easier on the newer generation.”

He bowed then left the office and Minato let out a sigh. He and Naruto had manage to come up with this agreement earlier today and he had finished writing it up just as Fugaku arrived in the office.

Minato would do whatever he could to make sure the massacre didn’t happen.

.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well, this was interesting to write. I intend to start the next chapter where Shisui and Naruto’s argument got cut off and I think you’ll like it.
> 
> Well, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and don’t forget to comment! Till next time!


	33. Chapter 31

Last time-

_"Okay. So explain it to me. I don’t like this. I don’t like us arguing especially over something as stupid as a guy I met years ago."_

_He looked at her and if possible the pain in his eyes intensified and she didn’t like it. She never wanted to cause her comrades pain like this, especially Shisui or Iruka._

_They were practically family to her._

He pointed a finger at her and growled out as he stalked over to her, “You are so frustrating.”

Next, he did something Naruto didn’t think him capable of- he kissed her.

Her eyes were wide and her breathing stopped, even when he released her lips. His eyes were soft as he raised a hand to stroke the side of her face, “I’m angry because I _hate_ the guy. I can take your past sex life and I _would_ have taken your future one till you mentioned _him_. I’ve never been as jealous of anyone as I am with him.”

Naruto was having issues controlling her heartbeat as it raced, her face flushing pink as she stammered out, “You… I… kiss… what?”

Shisui chuckled at her, his own cheeks pink, “I kissed you… because I love you. And I’m going to do it again.”

Not one to go back on his word, Shisui leaned down and moulded his lips to hers again and this time she closed her eyes. She raised her hands into his hair as his went to her lower back and the other to her neck, holding her to him.

She felt him smile against her lips and she finally realised what that annoying and irrational feeling was- she was in love with Shisui. Just as he said he was with her.

There was a tightening in her stomach she had never felt before as his hands wondered and locked her in place, “I don’t intend on… letting you go... Naruto.” He said between kisses and she felt herself smile as well.

“Then don’t.” she murmured and felt herself being pushed onto her kitchen counter.

.

.

.

For the next few days, despite not seeing Shisui for long due to his work load and her own, Naruto was on cloud nine. She didn’t act like a love stuck fangirl. No, she had class. Instead she was cheery about everything- even torturing that little spy from the medical corps but that was beside the point.

Her bliss of finding someone she finally loved (whilst at age 31 mind you) was eclipsed when she sensed someone and had to confront someone else.

Orochimaru was sitting harmlessly in Jiriaya’s living room, thankfully fully dressed this time, but again that was beside the point.

She glared at the man as she refrained from punching him, “You took Yamato?!” she yelled in fury but somehow managed to make sure she wasn’t loud enough for the nosy neighbours to hear.

Orochimaru raised a hand to stop her from going on, “I took him, yes. Konoha needs a Mokuton user who isn’t hiding in the shadows for their own safety. I’ve not done experiments on hundreds since I knew who was compatible already. I ensure the formula was perfect before I injected the cells into the boy and everything is going nicely. He has come to no harm and when the time is right, I will allow him to go back to his clan if that is what he wishes.

“In the meantime, he is learning to use the wood style which is going on quite nicely. You may condemn me Naruto, but at least I have not killed innocent children for this.”

Naruto grudgingly grunted in acknowledgement and agreement. He hadn’t experimented on innocent children who had ultimately died. He knew who he needed and had a good reason behind it.

Still.

“Next time, say something. I’m not so stubborn that I won’t hear you out.” She grumbled and crossed her arms under her chest before leaving to go and get Shisui and the others something to eat.

.

After much debate, Naruto decided to not be suspicious and got something for five people, Minato, Shisui and the three other ANBU in guard within the office. Nothing fancy, she bought four rice and curry bentos with dango and she brought the lunch she had made with more dango she had bought.

Perfect. No one would suspect a thing.

She made it to the front door of Minato’s office when a brown haired kunoichi wearing glasses stopped her. “I’m afraid no one is allowed in. Lord Fourth’s orders.” The kunoichi gave Naruto a smug look as she gave the blonde a once over.

Naruto in turn gave the kunoichi and noticed she must have a crush on her brother/father. She still wasn’t sure what he was at the moment.

Naruto looked to the door and noticed Minato’s ANBU were all outside the door meaning there was an important meeting going on inside. She listened in to what was going on in the office and turned red in the face.

“Sorry, didn’t realise aniue was having quality grown up time with his wife.” She heard the ANBU snicker as the kunoichi flushed a deep red. Naruto went into the bag and handed each of the ANBU there food, her hand lingering on Shisui’s for a moment before she looked at their captain, “Inu, this is for my brother. I’ll send a clone to bring more food since he and sensei are gonna need it.”

Whilst she didn’t want to think of her brother/father and sensei/mother doing the do she did want to knock the little kunoichi fangirl down a peg. No one told Naruto when she could or couldn’t see her brother other than her brother. And Kushina but once again that was beside the point.

She sat on the desk and waited patiently, making small talk with the ANBU guards and when the secretary said they were being improper as ANBU were meant to be silent- she silenced her by stating she was above their ranks within the ANBU had they had no choice but to answer to her whims.

The shade of red she became was hilarious and Naruto would have laughed if she hadn’t been trying her hardest to keep a straight face and piss the lady off.

Naruto didn’t get where Minato got these awful secretaries from and she also didn’t get how Kushina could stand them. If she saw someone who was around Shisui all the time fawn over him she might just _have_ to yandere.

_‘Hmm… maybe I should warn Shisui about that?’_

**_‘Definitely. Otherwise it can come off as a surprise. Not one the Uchiha would look forward to.’_ **

_‘I don’t know.’_ she mused. _‘I knew a few people and still do, that had a thing for the yandere type. Kinda comes with the territory of being hired killers I guess.’_ She mentally shrugged. She personally didn’t see the appeal but at the same time she did.

 _Shodai_ , she really _did_ need a psyche evaluation doing on her.

Thankfully Naruto didn’t have to wait very long for the ANBU to change shifts, Shisui and Neko changing with two others she didn’t recognise. She’d ask Shisui about them later.

Shisui was about to leave with Naruto when Kakashi speak, “I don’t wish to speak out of turn, Commander, however there’s a hickey on your neck you may wish to cover up.”

Immediately, Naruto’s hand went to the spot on her right neck, an inch and a half away from her ear where she recalled Shisui paying a lot of attention to the other night.

“Oh, on the other side.” Immediately she went to cover the entirety of the right side of her neck, not sure where the hickey might be.

She glared at Kakashi and those who were chuckling and gave Kakashi a look that said, ‘You are so lucky the secretary isn’t there or you’d be dead.’

She didn’t get a chance to speak her retort as Shisui took her hand and shunshined a few times to… his house?

She quirked a brow at him, “Your place?” it was odd for Shisui to invite her over to his house considering the shaky relationship he was having with his father lately.

He didn’t immediately reply, instead taking a seat on his sofa and let out a heavy sigh from behind his mask, “My dad’s out the village on some mission. Won’t be back for a few day.”

Her eyes softened as she moved to stand behind him, untying his mask and giving his shoulders a massage, “You should take it easy. You’re gonna burn out one of these day ‘tebayo.” She murmured.

He looked up at her with droopy, tiered eyes, “I needed to ask you something.” She furrowed her brows and nodded for him to continue, “Did you and lord fourth come up with the agreement for the Uchiha together?” again, she nodded her head so he carried on, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

At this she sighed but didn’t stop her assault on his shoulder’s making sure he’d relax, “You have so much on your plate as it is I didn’t want to burden you with having to listen to me go on and on with different ideas for the Uchiha’s integrations. I’m no idiot, Shisui. I know my other method didn’t work and I don’t even know if this will work but quite honestly… it’s my last best. I’ve got nothing after this.” She shrugged her shoulders and gave him a kiss on the head.

He looked up at her with hopeful eyes that her heart clenched. Shed personally massacre the uchiha elders if they carried on putting burden on Shisui. 

Screw what the council thought, they had their chance once, she wasn’t about to let them be the cause of the whole of the Uchiha to be murdered.

Kurama hit her over the head with a tail and she realised she was going in circles within her head.

She looked down at Shisui again and noted he had fallen asleep and she sighed, looking around the house for any spare blankets she could cover him with. After all it was a snowy winter after-all. 

Once she had covered him she sat at the foot of the sofa on the floor, removing her haori and undershirt leaving her with her mesh vest on as she took out her fuinjutsu set and bottle of her blood. 

She took out the scroll which had the seals she had been recently working on and went to work placing them on herself. She finished doing three when the front door opened and in came Kagami Uchiha- the second, not the first one. 

His eyes widened a fraction before he lowered his head in a small bow, "Lady Namikaze. What brings you to my home?" 

He entered the living room and finally caught sight of Shisui sleeping on the sofa and Naruto's half-dressed state and cleared his throat, "I'll let you get dressed." he said as he averted his gaze and Naruto couldn't help but roll her eyes.

No body but Captain Yamato had had ever been flustered about her lack of modesty and he had only had to see her like that when she had been training her wind technique. 

Deciding it was best to be at least mostly covered in front of her boyfriend's dad she put on her haori, open, so she could still place her seals on. 

"I was killing time earlier so I dropped off some food to Minato and the others, Shisui was on guard at the time so he's already eaten." she replied when she noticed he had gone to the kitchen.

He turned around and gave her a small, barely there smile in thanks and went back to preparing himself some food and tea for the both of them. Once he had set the tea at the table she thanked him and took a sip of the scalding drink, uncaring for its temperature. 

"Naruto..." began Kagami and she looked up at him, a smile on her face, "Lately Shisui's been distant, has he said anything to you?" 

Naruto's smile never faded and replied, "Nothing. Well, other than being a bit tiered from UPF work, ANBU work and his work with me and the Guard Platoon." she shrugged her shoulders and mentally smiled wider when she realized he didn't suspect anything to be wrong. 

Before all this drama that had been occurring since her return, she had like Kagami quite well. He was well mannered, wasn’t a stick in the mud and allowed his son to do as he liked as long as he was okay. Those were qualities Naruto liked in a person.

She didn’t like how he was a part of the reason Shisui was so torn, that he was one of the elders within the clan pushing for more rights within the village. Granted, the Uchiha’s deserve more rights as a part of the village but there were better ways to go about it.

.

.

.

The next day.

.

Kakashi glared a hole into the back of the doctor’s head. Rin was out of the village and Lady Tsunade was busy running the hospital but somehow- Obito _went missing_.

He had argued with the nurses, secretary and several doctors over the fact his old teammate was a cripple with barely any use of his legs at the present time and they should not have lost him so easily.

Once the doctor was out of sight he summoned the pack, ordering each of them to search for the Uchiha as he went to look for Naruto. She’d have much better luck finding his friend than even his pack.

The problem was he couldn’t find her. She wasn’t at Ichiraku, the library, the hokage office, T&I, her apartment- even Lord Jiraiya’s home and he found nothing! He was tempted to go to the Forest of Death till he overheard some female Uchiha’s talking about Naruto in the Uchiha district.

Not even thinking it over, he made his way over to the Uchiha district and first went to the UPF, nothing. So he went to the main house upon the estate however the matriarch and her daughter said they hadn’t seen the girl since the previous day. The last place he search was Shisui’s house.

He rapped on the door and when no one answered within the first ten seconds he barged in, not really caring for the rudeness of the situation as he was in a hurry.

He’d wasted enough time looking for the girl.

He wasn’t ill mannered enough at the moment to leave his shoes on though so as soon as he removed them he made his presence known and began calling out for the girl and young Uchiha teammate of his.

Not even a moment later, a dishevelled Naruto came out of the bathroom, wet, and in nothing but a towel as she looked at him as if he had lost his mind.

“Kakashi? What the hell?!” she asked as he took a hold of her upper arm.

“Obito’s gone missing. The hospital doesn’t know where he is and I can’t find him myself. I need you to sense for him.” He wasn’t yelling however he was frantic.

It was most likely due to this tone he had been using that Shisui emerged from his bedroom in just his trousers and ruffled hair as he removed the vestiges of sleep. He stepped in front of Naruto and spoke calmly, “How about you let her get dressed and then she can help, Kakashi.” It wasn’t a question, nor a suggestion. It was an order to Kakashi and not to Naruto.

Naruto in turn placed a hand on Shisui’s shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze before heading back into the bathroom to finished getting ready as Shisui took Kakashi into the living room to stay comfy.

The dark haired boy left the room and return fully dressed and decided to leave out the pleasantries, “How long has he been missing?” he asked, sitting on the opposite side of the table.

Kakashi raked a hand through his hair, “I’m not sure. I didn’t get a chance to visit him yesterday so I don’t know if he was there yesterday or not.”

Shisui furrowed his brows, “Wouldn’t the hospital have noticed if he was missing for that long?”

Kakashi let out an uncharacteristic snort behind his mask, “They don’t even bother anymore. They just leave him his food, water and medication. He doesn’t like it when others tend to him. Sometimes they just leave it outside his door and they won’t care if he takes it or not.”

“Why doesn’t lord fourth do something about it?”

Kakashi let out a sigh as he leaned back, looking towards to the bathroom where Naruto was still getting dressed, “There’s nothing he can do. Whenever someone other than Rin attempts to treat him they get injured. Apparently it has to do with his sharingan and a multitude of jutsu. He even attacked them with a plastic cup once.”

They both turned back to the hallway when Naruto emerged, her long blonde hair flowing in a ponytail but still damp slightly as she wore standard black shinobi slacks with bandages tied at her ankles and her kunai pouch tied to her right thigh. Today she chose to wear her flak jacket but in black over her mesh shirt.

Shisui stood up and went over to her, whispering something into her ear that Kakashi was smart enough to not listen in to. He had seen the two interact before and he knew they were close, but he wasn’t too sure if they were simply friends or friends with benefits that didn’t mention that detail to others.

He knew that if they were together they would have announced it already, both shinobi were too possessive to not do so. Mostly Shisui but _that_ wasn’t an issue at the current time.

Naruto went to sit on the table with crossed legs and her fingers folded against each other as she focused and did whatever it was she did to sense people and he wasn’t reassured by her expressions. They varied from pain to confusion to intense focus- no not a single expression was easing his worries.

She shouldn’t have that much issue if he was in Hi no Kuni.

Finally she opened her eyes at they weren’t the usual cerulean blue but red with a slit going through them- nine tails.

.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys should be happy I’m in a good-ish mood today. I almost didn’t get this chapter done but. I considered just leaving it for tomorrow but then thought I’d be nice considering when I type up this author’s note I’ve reached 100 comments both here and on AO3! Which means I’ve technically reached 200 comments. I feel like I’ve achieved something and as such I stayed up and bared with the pain to write this up.
> 
> I hope you’re all happy since I’ve been teasing and teasing but now I have given you what you were all awaiting for… Shisui and Naruto confession.
> 
> Well, don’t forget to comment and I’ll see you next time!


	34. Personal update

Sorry not an update guys.

I’ve had a busy week at work and had to do a lot of physical things so I’m really tiered and I’m in a lot of pain mostly in my back and legs but I can't sit comfy enough to sit and write so I’ll be taking a break for a few days and I’ll update whenever I can.

Thank-you for understanding and I’ll see you soon!


	35. Chapter 32

_7 months- May-_

.

Naruto looked on, outwardly bored, but inwardly she was very interested. She was in her Kitsune mask beside Minato within the hokage office as Shisui reported to him about Kirigakure attempting to infiltrate the village however they had run back to their village when Ao had seen Shisui.

 _Shisui no Shunshin_  was not a person to piss off when he hadn’t seen his girlfriend for over a week, not that anybody knew about that little detail.

“What do you think, Kitsune? Should we send a team to deal with them?” Minato asked her and she hid her surprise. The hokage did not usually address his ANBU for  _advice_.

She cleared her throat and replied, “I’d have to advise against that. My advice to you would be to send a whole team to Kiri and begin negotiations. We know they came for their weapons we won in the war and we can barter with them to sign a new treaty with us and in return we can return their two swordsmen.”

She had hoped the damn blades could be used like this back when they had returned to Konoha and now she could see it through- if Minato agreed.

Minato hummed and nodded, “I’ll address this matter with the council and hopefully the old bats won’t have a problem with it, or we may have issues.” The glint in his eyes had everyone shifting in their stand-up positions minus Naruto and Shisui.

Not long after they were all allowed to leave so Naruto, Raido, Shisui and Genma went to grab something to eat before they had more work to do.

Genma groaned as he took a seat at Ichiraku, “I don’t get where Minato-sama gets his mean streak from.”

Raido cast a glance at Naruto and snorted, “Most likely his father considering Naruto also has a similar mean streak.”

Naruto shrugged but didn’t deny it, locking her fingers with Shisui’s under the table where no one would notice and gave them a small smile, “People tend to forget what type of man he is due to rumours.”

Genma gave her a blank look, “Naruto, but I think we can safely say that those rumours hinder their names. Kushina-sama is said to be the hard-core one and I agree-”

Naruto interrupted him, “Everyone seems to forget, Kushina sensei wished to become hokage but she doesn’t have the heart for the job. She couldn’t handle killing the few people she had to during the third war, do you think she would have been able to wipe out Iwa’s forces in a single night due to righteous fury  _and_  stay sane after that? The first lady is not weak, but she doesn’t have the constitution that is necessary to bulldoze her way to become hokage- Minato nii-san did and he became yondaime and not her.”

It was true. Becoming hokage was more than being powerful, intelligent or recognised. Sure you needed those things but you also needed to be able to harden your heart and make the tough decisions.

A kage never makes a mistake.

Those had been words that were drilled into her mind during her war and those were words she stuck by. Each kage has their own method and because of that changes are made but that is how life went.

You do what is necessary to survive and no one should judge anything between that.

She shook her head when she realised she wasn’t making any sense even in her own mind. She noticed she had been doing that a lot lately, where not even her thoughts made sense to her and she refused to blame it on age- she wasn’t  _old_.

The rest of lunch consisted of normal chatter as no one wanted to go into intense conversations that would take away their lunch break and after an hour they paid and made their way back to the tower to delve into their work which at this time of the day consisted of sparring and seeing who could last the longest against the hokage- assuming he had no appointments then.

Usually Naruto but she didn’t really count since she knew the man’s weaknesses and could easily exploit them with her large reserves and stamina. 

As it so happens Minato  _did_  have appointments in the afternoon so Naruto and Raido were given the first shift  _off_  as they weren’t usually as cranky when it came to the late shift.

But at the same time, it meant Genma and Shisui would be cranky when they returned to their respective homes late into the night. So really there was no winning in this situation so one had to bear with it.

Waiting for her shift was the same as being on her shift, a hot mess and not the fun kind. It consisted of being half dressed and being sweaty- again not in the fun way.

Teaching fuinjutsu was not a simple task and required a lot of patience which thanks to her sage training, she now had. There was also her training to get into the Hunter Corps and ANBU but she generally under her other personas for those who refused to help her with anything that was apparently demeaning of their purpose. 

Naruto had often played the card that she made them but that never worked. 

Thanks to the multitude of documents that needed reading and signed as well as the large number of meetings Minato seemed to have in the evening they didn't get off work till the following day at 2AM and Naruto returned to her apartment with no energy left. Minato seemed to like making the job harder than she remembered it being. 

As she removed her cloak she let Kurama out of the seal to do whatever he wanted as she went to catch up on some well needed sleep, something she hadn't been getting much of thanks to all the missions and such.

As she didn’t have a roommate anymore she could change wherever she wanted however the philosophy of changing in one’s private quarters should be something for her to go back to as shinobi had zero regard for privacy.

Much to her surprise Anko appeared at her window and she shrugged, allowing the snake mistress to enter her apartment as she got dressed.

It's not like she didn’t have the same body as Anko anyway- if it had been Kakashi she would have given him a taste if her right hook for not knocking.

"Is something wrong Anko?" She finally asked when she was fully dressed and had registered the other female going to get a bottle of sake from her cupboard as well as a cup to drink from before pouring some in.

She didn’t say a word for the first three cups but then, "I'm having relationship issues." The purple haired girl confessed and Naruto quirked a brow, intrigued.

"Anything in particular?" She asked, perching herself on one of the kitchen chairs. 

Anko but her lip, "Do you think Iruka is cheating?"

Naruto did a double take, unsure of she heard that right. "What?"

Anko looked onto her sake cup, eyes downcast more than they should be in her opinion, "He’s been distant and comes back late. I know it’s not work because we work together. I don’t mind him having fun being out though if that's what you're thinking but... the other day, I noticed he had this really feint smell of perfume and..."

Naruto not so gently places her hands on the girls face and the worrisome look turned to one of sadness and confusion. Anko shouldn't look like this, something said in the back of her kind and she had to agree.

"Iruka is head over heels for you and I don’t want you thinking otherwise. I don’t say this as his friend or teammate because I wouldn't try to reassure someone of something I didn’t believe. Speak with him and let him know what you're upset about, I'm sure he'll have an explanation for you that you will like and believe because he can’t lie to T&Is psychopath." She gave Anko a grin and the girl smiled at her.

She downed another cup and replied, "Thanks. I think I'll do that right now." And she went, giving the blonde a small bow by inclining her head and left through the window. 

Naruto felt no remorse over the lack of sleep Iruka would be getting because he had upset the snake mistress and that didn’t settle right with Naruto. Anko was too lively to be so down. 

.

.

.

_A few weeks later- end of May-_

.

Naruto stood within the shadows of the cave once again as Kushina gave birth to her latest child, a little boy that they would be naming Hariken. It seemed no matter how many times she gave birth, she intended on screaming at the same volume each time. Naruto had a suspicion that if it wasn’t for the silencing seals around the cave that the whole of the village would be able to hear the previous jinchuriki.

Arashi, Narumi and Tatsumaki were all with Orochimaru within the village as someone had to watch over the honourable children of the yondaime hokage who was going to be busy being by the side of his wife as she gave birth, not caring for the fact he was missing several meetings and that Kushina was no longer a jinchuriki at risk of losing the bijou. Meaning she no longer required the help from him as she gave birth.

Sure, she wanted her husband there for emotional support but she would have understood if he had stayed within his office to have a meeting with the  _fire daimyo._

In fact, there was no need for the whole of the Guard Platoon to be here for this birth but here they were, on guard waiting for the enemy’s attack. The last attack which had led to Kyuubi being released and resealed had been a taxing one and everyone had been relieved when none of the nations had attacked them at their moment of weakness.

But that was most likely because they were all still licking their wounds after the war- minus Suna who had a treaty with them. Naruto doubted she would ever drop the topic no matter how many times she spoke about it.

Gaara’s mother was alive.

Naruto and the others let out sighs of relief when they heard the new born cry only to go on high alert when an individual appeared out of nowhere, a sharingan eye spinning wildly behind a black and blue mask.

A mask Naruto didn’t recognise as it wasn’t the usual colour nor did it have its usual swirls.

Naruto didn’t recognise the person nor their chakra but she couldn’t help the feeling of familiarity when she felt it- most likely from her original childhood. Or the current one.

No one moved and no one blinked, never removing their eyes from the masked individual who fazed right through them and Naruto felt smug satisfaction when they couldn’t go through her barrier seals nor the ones of hr fellow Platoon.

“Who are you?” she asked as she adorned her chakra cloak, Kurama’s chakra turning into a golden halo around her as she created another arm to hold the person in place.

The voice was squeaky and unfamiliar, “I am no one you know, jinchuriki. But I must thank you for showing me where the jinchuriki is. We were wondering where they were.” His voice changed in the last sentence to something deeper.

She eyes widened and her teeth elongated as she lurched forwards to attack the man only for her attack to pass through.

_'What the hell? The only people that should be able to do that are Kakashi and Obito!'_

**_'No, not even they should be able to do so as neither of them have activated their mangekyou sharingan._** _'_  Murmured Kurama.

The dark voice boomed, "You will make this so easy to bring back my mother." With that, he went forwards however he wasn’t expecting her next attack.

She raised her right hand covered in her finger-less gloves and mesh arm band, "Almighty push." Naruto was no Sasuke nor was she Nagato but she did have enough control over this dojutsu to make it work in her favour. After all, she had half Hagoromo's power as well as the soul of his son. 

She made sure to push him the opposite direction of where the cave was or it would have depleted the whole purpose.

_‘How was Zetsu able to get Obito’s sharingan? Did he take it when Obito was with Danzo?’_

**_‘I don’t know. Perhaps if you used the Human Path, you’d be able to get everything you want to know and kill him.’_ **

_‘Knowing Zetsu, it wouldn’t work.’_

Five seconds went and then whosever body Zetsu was inhabiting returned, “You have Hagoromo’s power, perhaps I should not have wasted my time on  _him_.” Naruto didn’t need the specification on who he was referring to, knowing fully well he meant Madara.

Naruto smirked when she felt Minato hiraishin everyone in the cave away, including Lady Biwako and Taji.

“You’ll have no luck making me your minion. When has Ashura ever shown any interest in you?” she asked, knowing she couldn’t reveal too much in front of the others.

The man and Zetsu hybrid hissed before evaporating through the ground much like Tobi could and Naruto slapped her forehead when she realised she never sensed him. He was right in front of her but she didn’t do the one thing that would allow her to track him down.

“Who was that?” asked Genma and Naruto shook her head.

“I don’t know, not completely.”

With that, the Guard Platoon together, minus Naruto of course, teleported to the yondaime to give in their reports as Naruto went separately.

.

.

.

Naruto stood outside the hospital on a branch, looking on into the room where Obito was fast asleep. A place she had confirmed he had been a few hours prior, verifying it with the nurses. She knew it couldn't have been him but she needed to confirm it for her own peace of mind. 

Once satisfied, she teleported to her apartment and sighed heavily. It had been a stressful 24 hours and she wanted nothing more than to sleep but she knew it wasnt over yet.

Despite knowing that she still went ahead and got ready for bed and even as she slept, she waited for the other shoe to drop.

.

.

.

Iruka sighed as he looked at the brats. He recalled his days in the academy and whenever he did, he became filled with rage. Very little they taught in the academy was useful for when they became genin so he had approached the yondaime a few years ago.

He requested that an active joining and a regular chunin should teach the children. Even if they were at peace, it was best the kings knew about real life and not the sparkly version the teachers in the academy gave them.

Just as he raised the chalk to the board the door slammed open and in came two irritated ANBU were not out of their uniforms and in their standard mission outfits.

Iruka quirked a brow at them, unsure what they were doing here till Naruto dat on the desk and Shisui stood leaning against the window, "I'm Naruto Namikaze and this is Shisui Uchiha. We're going to be teaching you today along with Iruka about the different countries and their elites. Any questions?"

One of the boys, Chouji, raised his hand, "Are you related to lord fourth?"

Naruto gave him a small smile, "I am Chouji Akimichi. I'm his... sister." There was a slight pause that none of the children noticed but Iruka and Shisui noticed. Lately there had been rumours that she was thr yondaime and Kushina senseis long lost daughter and often Narhto didnt know how to respond to them.

Arashi raised his hand next, "Auntie shouldnt you be in ANBU now or guarding my dad?"

Narutos smile widened at her nephews question, "I'm doing a mission right now Arashi. Its technically an ANBU mission but the two of us were given permission to be without our masks."

Shisui was apparently not going to say anything as he stood on the side where he had been staying for tha last few minutes and Iruka wondered why he was really here. Naruto knew enough information about each of the foreign nations to become their respective kage never mind the fact she was foreign to each of them.

"Any other questions?" The class was too star stuck to ask any further questions minus Narumi and Arashi but they knew everything there was to know about their two supply teachers so they didnt ask any further questions.

Naruto clapped her hands, "Great. Now we can get on with the lesson." She turned around and took the chalk writing the title of each kage, "I e written these and now I want to see if you know where EA h belongs in regards to hidden villages." Naruto shook her head, "Sorry. I when I say one of these I want you to tell me which village they rule."

Thankfully Naejti had caught herself in her sentence as Iruka doubted anyone besides Shikamaru, Narumu, Arashi and Satsuki knew what she had said.

"Hokage."

"Konohagakure!" They all replied together and Naruto wrote that under the word hokage.

"Mizukage."

"Kirigakure!"

"Kazekage."

"Sunagakure!"

"Raikage."

"Kumogakure!"

"And Tsuchikage."

"Iwagakure!"

Naruto turned around with a small smile on her face, "Well you all know that much at least. By the end of the day you'll know each of their elite squads, their kekkei-genkai and whatever trivial information you want to know." She turned to look at Shisui who simply shook his head.

“I know Shisui and I came towards the end of the class so we planned on changing your routine today so you’ll have to bear with us. You can go on your break early but we’re only giving you 15 minutes-”she raised her hand to stop them from complaining, “We’re only giving you 15 minutes now and then we’re going to have a 35 minute lesson on what’s on the board. Then you’ll have the next 15 minutes for another break and then we’ll have another 35 minute lesson and the remaining time will be used to have question time.

“After lunch break we’ll do the physical things. We’ll be opening up your access to your chakra first and then we’ll do some weapons practise. Between each of those lessons we’ll have 15 minute breaks and after weapons class we’ll come back inside and do more theory to talk about specialization options. It may seem a bit early but I always found it easier to know what you intend to be in the future to know what you need to master.”

She turned and looked to Iruka and he gave her an encouraging smile before looking back to the class, “Well you heard the lady. Off you all go for your break and we’ll come out when it’s time for you to come back in.” he gave them all a wave of his hand and they felt the room in murmurs and smiles, giggling to themselves as they looked at the Uchiha and Namikaze.

Iruka turned to Naruto and Shisui, his eyes widening before he turned around. They weren’t doing anything scandalous however he always found that when they gave each other their chakra to be a private moment to themselves so he didn’t like to watch. Well, Naruto was giving Shisui her chakra.

Once he sensed Naruto had stopped he turned around to see her leaning her head on his shoulder, “Are you two okay?” he asked, knowing the aftermath usually left one or both slightly lethargic.

They gave him a smile each and nodded, Shisui replying, “Yeah. She’s just having to do that a bit more often lately.” He shrugged his shoulders before moving her hair away from her face.

Iruka bemoaned the fact they weren’t a couple considering they both clearly liked each other and wondered if they’d get together if he gave them a push.

He decided against it, it wasn’t his business to hook his friends together since he apparently couldn’t manage his own love life. He winced at the memory of Anko coming to his apartment late in the night with frustrated tears in her eyes.

He’d gotten immediately worried and had to calm her down before asking what was wrong. He hadn’t noticed how negligent he had been towards his girlfriend till that night and he reassured her he hadn’t been cheating and the perfume smell had been on him because he had been shopping for his mother’s birthday gift in a cosmetics store.

From then, he’d made sure to spend more time with her since their work kept them bust as it was. He noticed they were more irritated with each other when they didn’t see much of each other, something they had remedied by inviting the other to ‘friends nights’ when their friends got together for dinner or drinks either out at a restaurant, bar, or someone’s house.

He smiled and left his teammates as he went over to his girlfriend who was currently in the headmaster’s office.

.

.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N- guys, guess what. My migraine got so bad I was sent home due to crying and I fell asleep, but they had expected me to fall asleep. My mum had to pick me up… I’m slightly better but I’ve clicked my wrist yesterday but it’s not too bad.
> 
> A big thankyou to everyone who wished me better health and I hope whoever is in bad health feels better soon as well!
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and I’ll see you soon. Don’t forget to comment!


	36. Chapter 33

Naruto glanced worriedly at Shisui. He hadn’t been feeling well the past few days as he’d caught some sort of bug that had been going around. And he had still been doing his duties within ANBU despite the high temperature he had.

He was still sick hence why when Shisui had been given the mission she had asked to go with him and she had requested he not do very much. He had protested but they had managed to come to an agreement. Naruto would do most of the teaching with Iruka and Shisui would add in pointers and take over the Q&A.

Iruka had left the room, leaving the couple alone for a bit. They got to see each other everyday thanks to work but that wasn’t the same as spending quality time together even if they were eating quietly at home, something they didn’t get around to thanks to Naruto’s busy schedule.

Sure, Shisui had a busy schedule as well between standard missions, ANBU missions, Guard Platoon duties and the UPF, he was all over the place but Naruto manages to get a bigger work load since she did some of Minato’s work and Jiraiya’s as peace maker and the spy network. 

Another addition to her work load was council meetings which had somehow become mandatory for her to attend as the Namikaze heiress as Minato could not attend. 

"Are you sure you're okay, anata?" She asked keeping her voice low so no one would be able to hear if they were spying which they weren't but still.

He gave her a smile and beckoned her to him with his finger in a 'come hither' motion. Naruto may be a proud independent woman but she still went to him without a missing a beat and with a smile on her face as he held her to him.

"I'm fine enough to handle a simple mission like this I don’t need you worrying about me and getting distracted." Her head was leaning against his collarbone so he gave her a kiss on her forehead as he inhaled his scent.

Ash and spices.

She squeezed him to her, loose enough for him to not feel pain but tight enough to get her message, 'I'm always going to worry whether you like it or not.' 

He gave her a sigh and released her, pushing her gently before Iruka returned to the room and the two turned to face him.

Naruto gave Iruka a grin, "Went to see Anko? By the way, you’re gonna wanna hide the hickey ‘tebayo. Were gonna have kids in here."

Iruka’s cheeks reddened as he figured with the collar of his jacket in an attempt to hide his lovers love bites and they couldn't help but slugger before Shisui took pity on him and placed a subtle genjutsu on them and Iruka gave him a relieved look.

“I thought I’d catch up with Anko since… ya know.” he looked pointedly at Naruto who gave him a thumbs up and a wink however her happy go lucky attitude went away a moment later when Shisui began to cough violently and she turned to catch him before he could keel over.

“Iruka. I brought a bag- oh screw it.” She bit her finger enough to draw blood and forced it into his mouth when he stopped coughing and he looked at her with hooded eyes as he sucked out her blood till her wound closed.

She helped him up onto the teachers chair and Iruka left to get a glass and jug of water for him as she pumped some of her chakra into him, “Anata.”

He stopped her with a glare and she sighed, “Please.” She asked but he didn’t relent.

_**‘Even if he stays, it works out better for you doesn’t it? This way you can watch over him.’** _

_‘Fair point, Kurama.’_  She murmured in reply.

A moment later, Iruka returned with what he set out to get as well as some pain killers and Naruto gave him a sad smile, “He’s not allowed to take pain killers since he ingests my blood. It gives him a bad reaction.” She swallowed the small lump in her throat. It was her fault that he had this problem.

 _ **‘If you hadn’t, mother, you would have lost him years ago.’**_  Supplied Choumei but that little to ease her guilt as Iruka looked at the box and put it in his pocket.

“I’m fine, both of you. I’m a jonin and I won’t be done in by a  _cold_.” Spoke Shisui only to be on the receiving end of a dubious look and a glare from Iruka and Naruto respectively.

They didn’t get a chance to carry on the topic as Arashi and Narumi entered the classroom a few minutes early and tackled the blonde with a hug, “Auntie!”

Most of her concern she had for Shisui had been pushed to the back of her mind as she leaned down and took a hold of both of them, sitting back on the desk and placed them on her lap as she held them, “How are my favourite niece and nephew?” she cooed to them and they giggled.

“I’m your only neice!” pouted Narumi.

“I get to rub it in Tatsumaki’s face!” yelled Arashi and Naruto rubbed her nose against his neck.

“Oh no! But then Tatasumaki will be upset with me!” she replied, eyes wide with fake fear but they bought it. “If I get you ice cream during lunch, will you two keep it a secret?” she whispered and the mischievous twins looked at each other and nodded their heads.

“We promise if you get us ice cream.” They chorused and Naruto nodded vigorously before turning to Shisui who had a small smile on his face before reaching up and ruffling their heads, messing their hair.

Naruto, Arashi and Narumi screamed and Naruto jumped back, clutching the children to her as the three pouted and glared a mock glare at the Uchiha.

Sighing, Naruto stood normally and gave them both kisses on both of their cheeks before setting them down and fixing their hair as much as they could. Whilst Arashi may have gotten Kushina’s hair colour, he got Minato’s spiky head which made the red hair go all over the place on a good day never mind when it was ruffled.

Right on time, the children all entered the room and Naruto sat on the desk as Iruka took the TA seat beside Shisui.

She looked at the class properly this time and saw who she would be teaching and felt a pang in her chest as guilt swarmed her, although she showed none of it.

The class consisted of 30 students who included, Lee, TenTen, Neji, Hinata, Kiba, Shino, Sakura, Satsuki, Narumi, Arashi, Shikamaru, Ino, Chouji, Torune Aburame, Karin who had been bought from Kusa as well as some of Nagato’s children.  

“Right, before your break we mentioned what we were going to do, so does any-one know the names of any of the nation’s Special Forces?”

Narumi raised her hand a millisecond before Arashi so Naruto called her to answer, “Konoha has the Twelve Guardian Ninja!”

Naruto gave her a smile and wrote her answer on the board, “Well done, anyone else?”

This time she allowed Arashi to answer, “Kumo have the Kinkaku forces.” He didn’t yell t like his sister and Naruto still heard him. She smiled when she heard his answer, Minato and she had been teaching Arashi and the others about the country the Namikaze’s hailed from.

"Anyone else?" She asked and hesitantly TenTen raised her hand. "Yes TenTen?"

"K-kirigakure and their swordsmen?" She stuttered and Naruto wondered if that was something she had also messed up since TenTen was shy and Hinata was abrasive.

Her answer didn’t bother Naruto, her past experience with the swordsmen in this time were nothing in comparison to the camaraderie she had shared with Choujiro and her fondness over Zabuzas memory. There was also Kisame who kept Itachi company in Akatsuki and Suigetsu who travelled with Sasuke for some time. Something she was thankful for even if she  _was_  jealous of team Taka. 

No, her reaction was nothing in comparison to Shisui and Iruka going horribly still so much so that even the students gave them a hesitant look. She gave the class a reassuring smile as she stood behind the boys, placing her hands on their shoulders and cloaking them in her chakra. With Iruka she only used enough to reassure him and not give him an addiction to her as well.

"Well done TenTen. Kirigakure has the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. Also known as the seven Swordsmen in short since the original name was such a mouthful." She shook her head and tutted as she wrote that on the board as well.

"Anybody else?" She gave them a few seconds and when nobody replied she carried on, "Sunagakure has the Pupper Brigade and Iwagakure have the Explosion corps." She wrote those down and took a seat on the desk once again, placing her hands back enough for the boys to take a hold if which they did.

“Can anybody tell me or take a guess on what each one of these Special Forces specialize in?” she asked. Nobody answered, not even Narumi nor Arashi so she continued, “Let’s start with Suna and the Puppet Brigade. They specialise in puppets and poisons. They also have very good chakra control and have the potential, if not already, to become medics. Much like Lady Chiyo and Sasori of the Red Sand. Lady Chiyo was renowned for her poisons in the second war which our own Lady Tsunade counteracted much to her annoyance.” She had a mischievous grin on her face and the class smiled warmly.

“Next is Iwagakure and their Explosion Corps which specialise in bombs and anything that can go boom.” She made an explosion gesture with her hands and the class erupted in a fit of giggles before she continued, “I don’t know much since Iwa doesn’t like me very much thanks to aniue but I do know about Gari. A man with a kekkei genkai but I’ll get back to that later.

“Kumo is next with the Kinkau forces… well… if memory serves correct the Nidaime Raikage labelled them criminals due to their actions in one of the wars. It caused severe damage to Kumo’s forced and the only ones anybody really remembers are Kinkaku and Ginkaku. Kinkaku being the one who led the twenty-ish men who all vanished off the face of the earth when the nidaime was killed.” She clicked her fingers, “That’s when they were labelled criminals, when the Kinkaku forces forced the hand of the Nidaime hokage who in turn named the sandaime. The day we gained the sandaime, we lost the nidaime.”

There was another thing about Kinkaku and Ginkaku which was important but they didn’t need to know that… yet.

“The next is…” she faltered before shifting in her seat, “Kirigakure and the Seven Swordsmen.” She felt Iruka and Shisui clench her hands and she clenched theirs as well. “This refers mostly to the swords so when someone is capable of mastering them… well, you’d better run. The swordsmen are relatively easy to notice since each of them has sharp teeth, each of them.” To this day, she didn’t get why they had shark like teeth but knew not to question it. “The seven swords were called; Hiramekarei, Kabutowari, Kiba, Kubikiribocho, Nuibari, Samehada and Shibuki. This pile here goes into detail on each of these swords.” She pulled out a pile of papers from her back pocket and placed it on the desk and she saw each of their eyes gleam.

“The last would be Konoha and the Twelve Guarding Ninja… we don’t really have a single thing to specialise in. Each person has something they specialise in like Asuma Sarutobi who excels in wind style ninjutsu implementing in into his close combat.” She shrugged, “Overall… in my own honest opinion, ours are just plain badass since we use ourselves and not something else to become famous. There is also the detail that our hidden village doesn’t house them. Most of the twelve remain in the capital with the daimyo.”

Naruto took a deep breath and heard Shisui muffle a cough and turned around to pour herself some water, taking a sip before cutting her finger slightly and dripped her blood into the cup and handed it to her lover, making sure no one would see her as she did so.

Naruto looked at the clock and then returned to the class, “Well, 35 minutes are over. You can all go for a 15 minute break and then we’ll take about kekkei-genkai.”

With this the class left and went their respective ways minus Shino, Arashi, Narumi and Satsuki.

.

.

.

A few days later.

.

Naruto sat in arguably the blandest room she had ever been in with the blandest of people. Minus Tsume and Nagato of course.

Everyone one civilian council seemed to have a stick up their arses and the shinobi council didn’t seem to give a fuck at present time. All in all, it pissed her off to no end.

She had been forced to attend this meeting as the Namikaze heiress and she had to take Nagato’s spot as Uzumaki head. There were perks and losses to belonging to two clans and this was one of them.

Naruto raised her hand and slammed it against the table. She was running on two hours of sleep she had gotten three days ago and was pissed off so sue her for her lack of patience.

“Itsuki-san. Your lack of customers is not something the council is here to fix. That’s a personal matter of your own. We are all here to discuss oddities or things that need addressing for the better of the village. Your _tea shop_ is not as important as whatever Tsume-san or Fugaku-san have to say.”

There was sniggers heard around the dark room as Itsuki glared and pointed a finger at her, “You only care about what the shinobi have to say, _Lady Namikaze_ , when you should be impartial.” He hissed her name as if it was poison and Naruto resisted the urge to yawn.

She was hardly afraid of a civilian who didn’t recall his place. He was also not alive in Naruto’s time which meant he had died either during the war or the night of her birth.

“They will not speak about shinobi business as the worst thing a shinobi ever does when at home is deface some training grounds or get extremely drunk. I looked at the statistics. 91% of cases brought up to the UPF now known as the KMPF are against civilians and the remaining 9% is shinobi.” She leaned back and took a swing at the sake bottle in front of her and mentally thanked whoever brought it to the table.

Itsuki kept quiet after that and the meeting progressed without much issue and when they left, Naruto was forced to go to the hokage office to report and then she had to go to Nagato and inform him of the meeting.

That task had been proven to be difficult as Minato had been part of another meeting with an entirely different council, a meeting Naruto had to attend as she was a jonin, ANBU, and a member of the guard platoon.

By the time Naruto was done with the day it was 10 in the evening and she finally recalled she couldn’t go home. She had managed to persuade the landlord to give her the whole floor as she was working on several things and she had been given the permission to do so as long as she had permission from the tenant beneath.

She groaned as she recalled the construction which had been going on and wasn’t finished meaning she had to go find somewhere else to sleep. Another reason she hadn’t gotten any sleep lately but mostly because she just forgot she needed to sleep.

She massaged her scalp before going off to the Uchiha district. She wasn’t going to bug Nagato since the kids would all wake up the same with Kushina and Minato. She couldn’t ask Kakashi since he’d get the wrong idea and Iruka was sharing an apartment with Anko, or was it the other way round?

The only other option was her boyfriend’s house but she wasn’t too sure. He didn’t seem to like her around his father very much which made no sense to her but she didn’t want to upset him and complied as much as she was able to.

Never the less, she made her way over to Shisui’s home and once she arrived, she knocked on the door which Kagami answered, “Hi Kagami. Sorry for coming here so late but I need a place to stay for a few nights. Can I stay here?” she asked and smiled when he agreed, opening the door for her to enter.

“I’m afraid I won’t be a very good host as I’m on night duty, patrolling the village.”

Naruto gave him a smile, “I saw the roster, don’t worry. I’ve been around you house enough to keep myself busy. I know where the toilet, bath and bedrooms are as well as the kitchen. There’s no need to worry about being a host and please carry on as if I’m not here.”

Kagami gave her a relieved look and carried on getting ready for his patrol and ten minutes later was out of the door.

Naruto sighed and began to tidy up the house. It wasn’t very messy, but after spending time with Kushina and Shisui she had developed some form of OCD so even a slight mess in four walls bugged her.

When she had finished cleaning the tables and was about to dust the bookshelf two hand wrapped around her torso and she found herself being pulled into a very familiar chest.

Shisui loanee down to her neck and inhaled her scent, the tension in his shoulders leaving him in an instant, "Forgot cleaning. Come to bed." Her murmured and took her hand, leading her to his room and began to undress her and redressed her in one of his shirts and he gained a gleam in them.

Naruto rolled her eyes at the evident smugness in his eyes. Past Sasuke and current Kakshi had also been proud whenever they saw her wearing their clothes so she made it a point not to wear the guys clothes last they get the wrong opinion and leas them on.

It didnt take long for Naruto to sleep, being held by Shisui and enveloped in his scent, sleep came to her easily.

.

.

.

"We should help each other." Said the man with a bandaged eye. To the Uchiha, he looked like a half mummy wrapped up in bandages like that.

"How so?" He asked wearily. He had met this man a few times but usually someone came before he could strike a conversation with him.

The mans eyes shined with an emotion he recognised but couldn't place, "The Uchiha clan have grown greedy and wish for more within the village despite all the yondaime has given them. This greed of theirs has led to them planning a coup deteat against the village. Should they be allowed to go forth with this treachery then the village will be weakened which we cannot afford." The man noticed his words were not reaching the teenage boy and tried again, "There will be many casualties and there is no doubt in my mind that the Uchiha will attack our most required shinobi- our medics."

At the word medic the boy snarled before calming down and looked to the corner of the room, "I'm not sure about this.... you have to talk to Zetsu." He pointed to the corner and from the ground emerges the black and white figure shrouded in his plant.

Once he had risen to full height he didn't say a word, simply walked over to the man and the black side grinned, "You have a deal just as long as the blame does not fall on this boy." 

"Yes. The boy only wants for the better of the world." Added the white half and the dark haired boy smiled, Zetsu understood him even if others didn't. 

"Very well, that can be easily arranged." The man inclined his head at the Uchiha bowed as he left the room.

"Things are becoming very interesting as of late." Spoke white Zetsu.

"Indeed. Ashuras reincarnation sure is making things interesting, especially given how close she is to Indaras reincarnation." Replied the black half as they went through the ground to hide once again.

White Zetsu furrowed his brow, "Shouldn't we do something about that? It could cause lots of problems for us in the future."

"Doubtful. The boy has no knowledge of this and neither does that pesky girl. If they become a nuisance in the future we have our little pet up there who can help."

.

.

.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all enjoyed that. I've been meaning to put in a scene like this final one for some time and never find the opportunity so I thought I'd just put it in when Naruto is resting off. Perfect.
> 
> Well I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter and if there's any mistakes such as apostrophes missing or spelling errors let me know so I can fix them. I've written most of this on my phone since using my laptop is too much for my wrist.
> 
> Anyway, don't forget to comment you thoughts on this chapter and I'll see you all soon!


	37. Chapter 34

 

Naruto glared at the ceiling the next morning as she woke up, wondering to herself what time it was as it was clearly past sunrise which was when she usually woke. 

She also found it odd that the bed was empty when she distinctly recalled sleeping with Shisui. Looking around, she confirmed that she was indeed in his room so now all she had to do was locate the Uchiha. It was very rare for him to wake up first as he preferred being active during the late hours but work forces him to stay lively during the day. 

In that sense he was like Sasuke who also preferred the night but they had later found out that that was because he had Indaras soul which made the night his domain. Of course, Sasuke and Naruto had mastered working in both day and night so it never affected their work when they worked.

She slowly got up, weaving a hand through her hair and cringed when it got caught. The downside to having Minato’s hair was it was easy to tangle as it had last night.

Just as she was about to remove the duvet from around her, in came Shisui humming to himself as he carried a tray of food. His face turned sheepish when he realised she was awake, "Good morning, love. I was gonna wake you up for breakfast in bed but I see my little surprise has been thwarted." She smiled as he spoke like an old man. It was one of his little quirks that she loved.

She leaned up to give him a kiss on the cheek when he placed the tray on her lap, "Colour me surprised. I thought I'd never see the day when you would wake up before me never mind breakfast in bed!" They both chuckled and he reached over his hand to caress the outline of her face and she closed her eyes, enjoying the feel of his hands. 

They were calloused, used to the harsh trainings and attacks over the years and light in colour. A stark contrast to her tanned and unblemished hands. 

“You need to rest more, Naruto.” He said quietly to her and she opened her eyes to look at him.

“I’ll rest when I get time, Shisui.”

He shook his head but didn’t say anything, getting the fork and knife and gave her a large bite of chocolate covered pancakes. The rest of her breakfast consisted if Shisui feeding till a snake summons entered the room and both summoners said, "Yes Hebiryu?" 

They both looked at each other and let our chuckles as Hebiryu hissed, "Thissss iss not a funny matter masssstar, misssstrisss. My lord ssssendss word of hisss work. He isss with the man you wished him to ssssspy onmisssstriss." 

Naruto was out of bed the moment she heard those words, going to Shisui's wardrobe and put on some of his clothes. Once fully dressed in a shirt that didn't have the Uchiha Crest on them, she gave him a kiss and reverse summoned the Orochimaru's location.

Orochimaru stood in an underground lair with Darui and Yagura who had been made the Mizukage's right hand. Mei was the current Mizukage.

"What did you guys find out?" Naruto hadn't sent him to spy on anyone but to ask them to meet up in one of his creepy lairs.

Darui replied, "On  _that_  guy? Nothing. The guys got security all around his place. But we did manage to scare up some info from the people. Apparently, they gonna start that group. Not Akatsuki but something like it just like you said. As for Lord Raikage, he's agreed to go to Konoha personally with Lord Killer B to discuss the matters of that peace treaty you were wishing for."

Naruto nodded as Yagura continued, "There wasn't much info on my end either. The scarlet kimono lady was pretty much a recluse however I managed to get information on other things you mentioned. There's this ring of missing ninja, B rank and above, that are banding together. Most likely for the group Darui was mentioning."

She frowned at the information. That was concerning. Akatsuki was hard to deal with originally however they had been defeated in the end.

She mentally shrugged. They'd deal with the group before they became an issue.

"I got Intel from one of my summons in Kusa. Someone stole their scroll on the high priests summoning contract. They're currently harassing people with summoning contracts to see if they have it. Quite pointless really, people don't tend to have more than one." She shrugged her shoulders and looked indignant when they gave her a flat look. "What?"

"It may have escaped your notice but do you realise how silly that sounded from you? You have multiple contracts that everyone has lost count." Stated Darui and Yagura nodded

"I heard from Akatsuchi that Onoki had gone over to one of the mountains and destroyed it because of how much of a nuisance the Yellow Flashes sister had become." He added and Naruto crossed her arms.

"I'm not the yellow flashes sister. I'm Golden Maelstrom. Has he forgotten already?" She muttered and the two males chuckled at her expense.

There was nothing else either of them had to tell her so they gave her their scrolls and she teleported them back to their respective villages where their kage would await them.

She looked around, thanked her summons and teleported back to Shisui’s house to see him looking irritated.

She furrowed her brows and made her way over to him and sat on his lap on the sofa. "What's wrong?" If she was anyone else they would have assumed he was being a typical Uchiha but she knew better, as did team Kushina and team Ro.

He looked up at her and at first said nothing but then he sighed, placing his hands on either side of her waist, “I thought you’d have the day off so we could spend it together."

At his sentence she felt bad, it wasn’t fair to Shisui that she constantly left to deal with matters so she gave him a kiss on the forehead, and “Do you have tomorrow off?" He gave her a nod and she smiled, "I'll be back in a minute." She hiraishined over to Minato’s office, apparently interrupting some sort of meeting.

"Hey! You can't just flash in whenever you like! This is the hokage office!" Yelled an irate chunin who was standing next to his jonin instructor and two genin teammates.

She quirked a brow and was about to retort however it was Minato to berated him, "She is my sister as well as the right hand to myself and lord third. She deals with several matters within my absence and will continue to do so. There is nothing going on within this village that she does not know about and I will not have you disregard her efforts nor disrespect her when she is also higher than you in rank." His snapish attitude made her want to ask what was wrong with him but she decided against asking that in front of his people. 

"Any-who. I came to ask if for tomorrow, could you take over my spy network? I realised I've not had any downtime lately with all the missions and information I've been trying to gather." She explained, hoping he wouldn't question the randomness of it all. She never asked for breaks.

Minato gave her a smile, "Sure. I'll just get my secretary to change my meetings tomorrow since I've seen your network in action. Take a break and let me know if you want a longer one. You've not had one since you return right?" She nodded her head. "Then don’t worry. I'll deal with everything and I won’t bother you unless its urgent."

She gave him a relieved smile and bowed before teleporting back onto her lover's lap. "You can't have me today but you can have me all of tomorrow. I got Minato to give me the day off." 

His face brightened and the feeling of guilt flooded her. It really wasn’t fair that Shisui got the short end of the stick being in a relationship with her.

She made a mental note to make it up to him.

.

.

.

Shisui watched Naruto with a smile as she told him about the time a road and snake summons had argued over their names. They had the same name however Naruto seemed to have the problem where she called them without the first section of their name such as hebi or gama. They had apparently quarrelled and ordered their chiefs to change their names, only to be told not to be silly and keep the names they had been give.

"Is something on my face?" She asked and he fell out of his daze, shaking his head.

"No. I was just looking at you." From underneath the table he reaches over and held her hand. They were sat at a small booth like area in the back of a restaurant Naruto had chosen so he didn’t  _need_  to be secretive but he didn’t want them getting caught.

Well, personally he didn’t care if anyone found out about them but Naruto said there’d be repercussions given all the changes going on within the clan from both herself and the hokage. It could be taken as favouritism so he had relented. On the terms that they’d tell people bit by bit and she had been fine with his terms.

It sometimes became an issue though. He liked touching her, holding her and being in close proximity to her which they had when they were just friends and still did those things but he wished he could just kiss her on the middle of the street at let all other leering men and women know she was His.

He smirked suddenly and placed a genjutsu around them so to onlookers it looked like they were just talking. 

Naruto noticed this and quirked a brow at him. Not missing a beat he leaned forwards and placed a hand on the back of her neck and drew her closer to him, attaching her lips to his in a kiss.

Her lips melded perfectly against his and he groaned when her hands made their way into his hair and tugged at his hair. She knew he loved it when she did that. 

His free hand found her waist and tugged her to him and she took the hint. Not detaching their lips, she maneuverer till she was straddling his lap and then let go, allowing him to catch his breath. 

He placed his forehead against hers and smiled, "I love you." 

Her face reddened and she kissed him again, murmuring against his lips, "I love you too."

.

.

.

True to form, Naruto was unable to enjoy a day of her life in actual peace without something happening. She had been enjoying herself, being with Shisui all day and spending some time with their friends had been the most fun shed had since the night they became a couple.

She loved spending time with Shisui however she also enjoyed being with her friends and their significant others, they were always entertaining to be around. It also had something to do with them not actually knowing about  _her_  past and only knew about their past.

So, they were out shopping things for Naruto’s apartment which was complete, minis a few things here and there but it was liveable. They were getting things to be delivered there such as sofas, armchairs, a loveseat, desk, bookshelves and other basic things. 

The bookshelf was arguably the most important given how many scrolls she actually had.

She preferred black with deep blue engravings however Shisui was suggesting a deep silver colour when a member of the ANBU arrived and kneeled before her.

"Forgive us, commander however Lord fourth wishes to see you and Hebi in his office immediately for urgent business." 

Naruto sighed as Shisui groaned. Standing up straight she nodded and teleported the three of them to the office where the old bats on the council stood angrily next to her brother who looked cool as a cucumber.

"You called for us?" She asked.

However it was not her brother who replied but Koharu, "You cannot request the hokage to take over your job because you want a day off. You need to go through the proper channels and not to the hokage who has meetings with important people and other _important_ things to deal with."

Naruto didn’t appreciate how she said important, as if Narutos work wasnt important to the village.

Screw that.

"I would usually leave you and your council to your own delusions however I'll entertain you children by giving you a reply." She heard the ANBU snigger which caused Koharu to turn red in anger. "My spy network is three times bigger than my dad’s which means I get three times the information. I have spies in each of the nations, which is of no concern to you. Thanks to me, however, we're going to be discussing a peace treaty with Kumo and Kiri within the next three months and finalising it by the end of the year. What have you done? You’ve done nothing but cause problem after problem and but your noses where they don’t belong. How about you guys go and go through the correct channels if you have a problem with what the command of the ANBU black ops does with her time. I will also add that I have been given free rein to do as I please by both lord third and lord fourth so if you have a problem, take it out with them and then me. If that is all I'll be going." She glared at them. She was never confrontational when it came to herself or defending herself however it was insulting her work and what she does for the village which she wasn’t going to stand for. 

Minato raised a hand to stop her, “Minus the council matter, I wanted to pass this scroll onto you. Feel free to read it tomorrow, however I was said to deliver it to you as soon as possible.” Naruto took the scroll and noted it was from her spy in Iwa who had given it to one of her summons to give to her.

She pocketed it and returned the two of them to their shopping. She was curious to know why Minato had said it was urgent. Sure there was the scroll but he could have sent it via gama and the council issue was something he could have easily handled or anyone from ANBU who saw her work.

.

.

.

Shisui’s face gave nothing away as he stood in what Naruto had dubbed the Uchiha underground lair, with the rest of his clan 16 and over.

His father stood beside him, blank faced as all the other Uchiha minus the elders who showed irritation and disgust. It was hard for him to discern who was for or against this coup at this point. Minus the elders, _they_ clearly wanted to rebel against the village.

"We began plotting this coup for the better of our clan however we have been given all the rights the other clans and clan less have been given, is there truly need to carry on?" Spoke Fugaku and Shisui thanked the heavens that his clan head was seeing reason. 

Fugaku’s uncle glared at him, "That may be the case but for how long?! The Uchiha’s are only being given this leeway because the hokage sister is friends with one of our own. Should they have a falling out then the hokage will no doubt put us back in the position we were in before."

Shisui held his tongue. He and Naruto weren't going to be splitting up anytime soon. They spoke about anything that bugged the other and made it work by compromising.

"She is doing this for our clan for reasons outside of her friendship with our clansmen. Shisui is not the only friend she has within our clan and he will not be the last. Do not speak ill of the yondaime sister who according to the rumour mill is in fact his secret daughter." Spoke Fugaku and Shisui’s eye twitched when all eyes turned to him for confirmation.

"Any and all information I have is confidential and would be a breach of trust and security should I leak the information out. If you wish for a confirmation you will have to seek out the people in question." It was a diplomatic way of saying he wasn’t going to tell them so they should turn their fucking sharingan eyes to someone who _would_ care.

It carried on like this for two hours, everyone arguing and Fugaku attempting to keep the peace but it was a wasted effort. The clan elders and a lot of their children agreed with carrying on the coup. 

It was ridiculous, to think the one hokage who had given them all these rights and practically forced them to integrate back onto the village would plot against them.

Ridiculous or not, Shisui went to the hokage office to report on the current meeting via shunshin so no one would be able to tail him.

The meeting had lasted thirty minutes and the members of team Ro stood at attention.

"This is showing to be problematic. I can handle myself and my security but I don’t know about my children. Naruto can look after herself for thr most part but there is the issue of her tenant and how she is susceptible to the sharingan. They don’t know that do they?"

Shisui shook his head, "No. Team Kushina and Team Ro have been very tight lipped on the matter. No one knows and no one will know." Just like Minato will never know that Shisui knows the truth.

"Lord fourth if I may." Spoke Kakashi in his mask, "There are members of Team Ro who are your guards and some who are not. My team has been trained by Naruto in all necessary area and we are all capable of protecting thr first lady and your children." He left it at that, knowing Minato would make his decision soon.

Minato closed his eyes and gave it some thought. "Shisui. You'll protect Naruto as you have been. Kakashi and Raido will deal with my security and the rest; Iwashi, Genma and the rest of Team Ro will focus of my children and wife. I'll get Iruka to join this security as well as Anko if necessary." Minato took out a few blank scrolls and dismissed them, saying he would send his summons to each of them with details regarding what they will be doing and how.

.

.

.

Naruto went through the documents she and Minato had been working on, "Keep the mission part within the academy. They're basic things that everyone can do and it'll give them a better idea on what being a shinobi or kunoichi is all about. It'll also give them time to build bonds with every member of their class and not just two people who they'll get placed with." 

It wasn’t something she had put into practise as hokage however now that she thought about it, it made a lot of sense. Whilst they didn’t lack the man power which they had during the third war, the sandaime’s idea had merits other than his initial ones. 

"That would only cover one area of issues. There’s also the area on their first kill. A lot of reports during the war showed 95% of shinobi and kunoichi freeze when they deliver their first killing blow." Minato replied, eyes not leaving the document he was reading with furrowed brows.

“We could place them under a discreet genjutsu during a spar and make them kill their opponent.” She suggested.

Minato leaned back in his office chair and opened his mouth to reply however Danzo barged through the doors with Koharu and Homura.

Naruto and Kurama both mentally groaned. ‘ _Will they ever give up?’_

**_‘I don’t think so. Old people tend to persist till they’re in the grave. Look at Madara.’_ **

Naruto had to agree to his point. Madara had carried on even _after_ dying.

The three of them pointedly ignored Naruto’s presence on the chair next to Minato. Danzo was the one who took the lead today, "We hear you intend to not do anything about the Uchiha." 

Naruto looked carefully blank however inside she was picturing having Danzo’s eyes ripped out and being skewered. 

Minato looked perfectly calm as he handed Naruto a document to sign, "And if I am? How is it any matter of yours, elders?"

Homura glared at the elder blonde, "They plan on destroying the system to better suit their own needs rather than the needs of the majority. It must be stopped."

Naruto felt Shisui’s internal rage but at the distance he was from her, she could do nothing. Not even look at him since he was on guard duty. 

This time it was Naruto who replied, not looking up from her next document, "They want rights which were denied to them because of the previous kage. I doubt you and your family would appreciate being ridiculed as the Uchiha have been."

She felt Koharu glare kunai at her, "They cannot go about it this way."

Naruti shrugged and looked up, "They are _planning_ a coup, not _implementing_. If people were killed because of planning you _elders_ would be dead over a thousand times given how often I mentally kill you."

This gained her the glare if all the elders, "This village would have fallen and can _still_ fall without our guidance." Spoke Danzo

Naruto let out a cold chuckle, infusing Kurama’s chakra into her eyes making them crimson with slits as she also elongated her teeth, thickening her whiskers. This made her look far more menacing and dangerous looking than they knew her to be.

"Clearly you are all under some _misguided_ impression that you're as important as you seem to think you are. You're not. Your advice is as old fashioned as your fighting style. Choose one of the graduates in my class and they’d be able to take you down in strength _and_ academics." She took a sip of the bottle next to her before looking back at the papers, "I will also bring it to your attention article 15 paragraph 6 line 3, should one speak out of term against the hokage they can be stripped of their rank and may be sentenced to death. Of course that last bit is dependable on what you say and who you say it in front of." 

Koharu slammed her hands on the table and was pushed back by Shisui and Kakashi. "You cannot speak to us like this! We are the village council elders!" The lady yelled and Naruto stood up to bring Kakashi and Shisui closer as to stop them from attacking the lady. 

"I will say this once. The work you do for the village can be easily given to someone else more competent. You deaths would be no more than a minor inconvenience."

Minato stood and sat back back down, "As Naruto has put it, I will add no more. Leave and think before barging in here and speaking out of turn." He gestures for his ANBU to remove them from his office and once they were gone he threw his kunai’s into the wall behind where the three had been standing, muttering a string of curses only Kakashi and Naruto could hear and they raised a brow at his creative words. They reminded the two of them of a man back in Iwa. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't realise how long i was making this since i've been doing it on my phone. I've only put this on my laptop so I could use Word and check a couple things. 
> 
> I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and I'll see you next time. Don't forget to comment!


End file.
